(1884,2,'David P. Bloom, the would-be financial adviser who bilked investors out of $15 million to fund a lavish lifestyle of expensive artworks, luxury cars and posh homes, was sentenced Friday to eight years in prison by a judge who called him ``amoral, not immoral.\'\' Asking the judge to give Bloom, 24, a shorter sentence than the three-year term handed master Wall Street criminal Ivan F. Boesky, Bloom\'s lawyer described him as a ``greedy young man and a product of our times.\'\' ``When he grew up, greed was on the ascendency,\'\' said the lawyer, David W. O\'Connor. ``David Bloom shouldn\'t wind up being the scapegoat of the 1980s.\'\' But U.S. District Judge David N. Edelstein said he was imposing the stiff sentence because it was ``absolutely essential\'\' to send a message to those who act through ``greed and insatiable lust for despoiling innocent people.\'\' The high-living Bloom, whose massive swindle scheme earned him the title ``Wall Street Whiz Kid,\'\' pleaded guilty last March to one count each of mail fraud and securities fraud. Most of the investors he conned were friends of his parents, according to prosecutors. In a 15-page sentencing memo to the judge, Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert L. Plotz said Bloom ``victimized close friends of his parents\'\' and ``betrayed the trust not only of these friends but also of his parents.\'\' Noting that several of Bloom\'s victims had turned over pension plans and individual retirement accounts to him, the memo said Bloom ``took everything he could from people who loved him; in so doing, he exhibited a legal and moral depravity.\'\' ``I have betrayed my own sense of morality and values and betrayed the trust and love of numerous people around me,\'\' the short, bespectacled Bloom, standing with his hands crossed in front of him, told the judge. He conceded he was ``deserving of punishment\'\' but O\'Connor urged the judge to show leniency because ``this is not Ivan Boesky or (convicted inside trader) Dennis Levine.\'\' Boesky, who pleaded guilty to securities law conspiracy and is cooperating with investigators, was sentenced to three years in prison last December. Levine, an investment banker caught in a massive insider trading scheme, was sentenced to two years in 1986. O\'Connor called Bloom\'s crime ``a bizarre aberration,\'\' and told the judge that a stiff sentence was ``not going to discourage the next screwball who comes along.\'\' But Edelstein concluded Bloom was ``remorseless, completely lacking in conscience. He was a predator, completely insensitive.\'\' Edelstein sentenced Bloom to four years on each count and, in an unusual move, ordered the prison terms to run consecutively as spectators in the crowded courtroom gasped. ``He went on his way without any thought of the pain, suffering and misery he was inflicting,\'\' said a disgusted Edelstein. ``He was amoral, not immoral.\'\' The judge said Bloom had ``cannibalized his family and friends.\'\' He also ordered Bloom to make ``full restitution.\'\' No fine was imposed. Edelstein could have sentenced Bloom to 10 years in prison and $20 million in fines. According to prosecutors, the boyish-looking Bloom used deceit and fraud to parlay a college investment club into a multimillion-dollar investment operation with about 140 clients. Bloom, who was not registered as an investment adviser, wooed investors for his now-defunct Greater Sutton Investors Group Inc. by falsely claiming his clientele included the Sultan of Brunei, the Rockefeller family and entertainer Bill Cosby. A 1985 Duke University graduate with an art history degree, Bloom told clients he was putting their money into the stock market when he actually was using it to pay for a lavish lifestyle that included art works worth $5.5 million; an $830,000 condominium on Manhattan\'s Upper East Side; a Long Island beach house worth $1.9 million; and two cars _ an Aston-Martin convertible and a Mercedes-Benz _ worth $200,000. Among the paintings Bloom purchased with other people\'s money were works by John Sloan, Thomas Hart Benton, Mary Cassatt and John Singer Sargent. Bloom began sending his investors bogus account statements that claimed to show their securities holdings, according to the charges. Bloom also was charged with using new clients\' funds to pay ``profits\'\' to older clients. Last January, the Securities and Exchange Commission brought civil charges against Bloom, who settled by agreeing to turn over his assets to a court-appointed receiver and to stay out of the securities industry for the rest of his life. Under the settlement, Bloom neither admitted nor denied the SEC allegations but criminal charges were brought in March. Bloom waived indictment and pleaded guilty March 31 to one count each of mail and securities fraud.\r\n'),(1885,2,'Three Sinhalese extremists and a soldier were killed and militants torched buses on the first anniversary of an accord aimed at ending Tamil separatist violence, police said today. Most shops, offices and businesses were closed today in Colombo, the capital, and its surburbs. Police said people were afraid to open their businesses because of possible violence by Sinhalese radicals opposed to the Indian-brokered peace accord. A 24-hour curfew went into effect at 6 a.m. today in the island\'s south after radical Sinhalese nationalists called for a general strike. Residents in the northern city of Vavuniya, about 125 miles northeast of Colombo, said by telephone that Indian soldiers also declared curfews in some areas in the island\'s north and east until Sunday morning to prevent attacks by Tamil rebels. The peace accord is opposed both by Tamil rebels fighting for five years for independence in the north and east of the island and by the Peoples Liberation Front, an extremist group from the island\'s majority Sinhalese community. The Sinhalese say it makes too many concessions to the minority, while the Tamils say it does not meet their demands for independence. Three men were killed by police in separate incidents in which Sinhalese extremists tried to attack government property, a police spokesman said on condition of anonymity. He said a Sinhalese Sri Lankan soldier was fatally shot in a battle with extremists in Hambantota district in the south. In southern and central Sri Lanka, strongholds of the Sinhalese extremists, at least eight government-owned buses were set afire Thursday night and this morning, the police spokesman said. Electricity supplies to at least four towns in southern Sri Lanka were cut Thursday night after Sinhalese extremists bew up electrical transformers, he said. A railroad engineer was injured when his train was hit by a firebomb as it pulled into Colombo, police said. Only a few government-owned or private buses were seen running. In the island\'s north, nearly 50,000 Indian soldiers deployed under the peace accord were put on alert after Tamil rebels called for a demonstration to protest the peace pact. On Thursday, 14 Sinhalese farmers were killed by Tamil rebels near Padaviya village, about 100 miles northeast of Colombo. The peace accord, signed by India and Sri Lanka on July 29, 1987, calls for the government to grant limited autonomy to minority Tamils in exchange for the rebels giving up their fight for a separate Tamil nation. India agreed help disarm the Tamil rebels. But violence has persisted in the Tamil areas of the north and east because the main Tamil rebel group, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, refused to accept the accord. India is involved in the conflict because of the sympathy of its own Tamil minority of 60 million for the island conflict. Before the peace pact was signed, Sri Lanka regularly accused India of training and supplying the rebels. More than 8,000 people have been killed since the ethnic war began in 1983. Tamils, who are mostly Hindus, make up 18 percent of Sri Lanka\'s 16 million people and say they are discriminated against by the Sinhalese. The Buddhist Sinhalese make up about 75 percent and control the government and the army. More than 400 people have been killed since the accord was signed in attacks blamed on Sinhalese extremists. Most of the victims have been government officials or members of the governing United National Party of President Junius R. Jayewardene, who signed the accord.\r\n'),(1886,2,'The United States and the Soviet Union should review their nuclear fail-safe systems, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee said Thursday. ``If nationalists or terrorists overran a Soviet nuclear storage site in one of the republics, would the superpowers coordinate their actions?\'\' Sen. Sam Nunn, D-Ga., asked in a speech on the changing threat worldwide. Ethnic unrest in Azerbaijan and Lithuania\'s declaration of independence March 11 have led Moscow to resort to military force. The Bush administration, Nunn said, should urge the Soviet Union to join the United States in conducting separate, but parallel reviews, of fail-safe and control programs. Nunn also suggested using the Nuclear Risk Reductions Centers for talks about how the two superpowers could avoid an inadvertent nuclear war. In his second major speech in a week, Nunn acknowledged the lessening Soviet conventional threat and questioned whether the Bush administration is correctly characterizing the Soviet\'s modernization of its strategic forces. Defense Secretary Dick Cheney has said unequivocally that there has been no change in Soviet strategic forces and that the only change at all has been in improving their forces. ``The administration has tended to overstate its case,\'\' Nunn said. U.S. intelligence, he said, has found a cutback in the Soviet\'s Blackjack bomber production. In addition, the Soviets have ceased patrolling U.S. coasts with its Yankee-class SSBM and patrolling north of Canada with its nuclear-armed Bear-H bomber. In his speech, delivered on the Senate floor, Nunn also discussed: _His complaints last week that the administration\'s fiscal 1991 defense budget has several major holes Congress will fill if the Pentagon doesn\'t. Cheney disputed some of Nunn\'s allegations and said the Pentagon is accounting for rapid changes in Eastern Europe in fashioning a spending plan for fiscal 1992 to 1997. ``It is crucial to note, however, that Secretary Cheney made no claim that the administration\'s fiscal 1991 budget request reflects all these assumptions,\'\' Nunn said Thursday. Questioned about Nunn\'s comments, Pentagon spokesman Pete Williams said Thursday: ``It would be very difficult, if not _ dare one say _ imprudent, to send up a \'91 budget on the basis of things that haven\'t happened yet. As events change, we will adjust our plans accordingly.\'\' _The likelihood of the Soviet launching a ``go-it-alone\'\' attack on Western Europe. The chances of such an offensive is remote, according to Nunn, who also said the Kremlin would have a difficult time re-establishing ``a credible threat of a large-scale conventional attack on NATO.\'\' _The dispute within the Bush administration over the potential for reversing the dramatic events in the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact nations. CIA Director William Webster has told Congress it will be difficult; Cheney disagrees. Shortly after Webster\'s comments, Cheney said the CIA director\'s testimony ``was not helpful\'\' to Bush\'s policies.\r\n'),(1887,2,'Police in western Bangladesh opened fire on transport workers striking against alleged police harassment and 15 people were injured, according to news reports Sunday. The indefinite strike halted bus traffic in 16 districts and stranded thousands of bus passengers, the government-owned Dainik Bangla newspaper reported. Police and demonstrators clashed in Pabna, 75 miles northwest of Dhaka, the paper said, but it did not specify how many of the injured were protesters and how many were police. It also did not say how many were wounded by the gunfire. Police said they opened fire when the workers tried to storm an office of the road transport authority. On Saturday, 50 people were injured when pro-government workers and opposition-backed laborers clashed, using homemade bombs and knives, over the ouster of a union leader in Adamjee, 10 miles south of Dhaka, police said.\r\n'),(1888,2,'A series of aftershocks jolted northern Japan on Saturday following several earthquakes, and police reported landslides, cracked roads and damaged buildings. There were no reports of injuries from the series of quakes Friday evening near Takada, 140 miles north of Tokyo. A total of 10 aftershocks had been recorded following the first and strongest earthquake Friday evening, which registered 5.5 on the Richter scale, the Central Meteorological Agency said. No Richter readings were available for the aftershocks. All the quakes on Friday were centered at a depth of about three miles in western Niigata Prefecture along the coast of the Sea of Japan, it said. Police said the earthquakes caused a 75-foot section of a road to sink, set off 30 landslides, and created cracks in roads and the ground at 60 locations. The hardest-hit area was Takayanagimachi, a town of 4,000 people, where a dozen homes suffered minor damage, including broken furniture and window panes, police said. The Richter scale is a measure of ground motion as recorded on seismographs.\r\n'),(1889,2,'A shot fired from an army watchtower near the Irish border killed a young civilian Sunday, according to a military statement that expressed regret at his death. Witnesses said 23-year-old Aidan McAnespie was shot in the back while walking to a regular weekly Gaelic football game in Aughnacloy, County Tyrone, near the border with the Irish Republic. The Dublin government immediately requested details of the shooting, which comes at a time when relations between Britain and the Irish Republic have been severely strained. The Royal Ulster Constablulary said a soldier at the vehicle checkpoint was in military custody and the shooting was under investigation. An army statement said it ``deeply regrets\'\' the death, which it said occurred when a weapon was fired from an observation tower at the permanent military checkpoint near the village. McAnespie, who lived in Aughnacloy, was said to have worked at Monaghan in the Irish Republic, according to Press Association, the British domestic news agency. Relations between Britain and Ireland have been severely strained recently after two British decisions concerning sectarian warfare in the predominantly Protestant British province of Northern Ireland. Britain\'s Court of Appeal upheld the convictions of six Irishmen sentenced to life in prison for two Irish Republican Army bombings that killed 21 people in 1974. The court rejected arguments that new evidence undermined the confessions and forensic findings that sent them to prison. The IRA is fighting to end British rule in Northern Ireland and unite the province with the Irish Republic, which is predominantly Roman Catholic. Britain also decided last month not to prosecute any Northern Ireland police officers connected with the police shootings of unarmed Roman Catholics in an alleged ``shoot-to-kill\'\' policy against Irish nationalist guerrillas.\r\n'),(1890,2,'Julia Staniszewski says she hadn\'t seen some of her neighbors in this wooded suburb for at least a year. But when Avianca Flight 52 crashed thunderously into a nearby hillside, they came running. ``The radio went off and everything went dark but there was absolute silence,\'\' the 85-year-old longtime resident said Sunday, recalling, as did others, the eerie absence of engine noise before the crash. ``I stayed in bed until neighbors came looking for me 15 minutes later to check that I was OK.\'\' The Boeing 707 clipped the tall oaks near Mrs. Staniszewski\'s house before breaking into pieces and coming to rest in a mess of twisted steel, killing 73 people aboard the craft and injuring 86. Three days later, residents of this affluent community of about 340 people 35 miles east of New York City say the enormity of the tragedy is just beginning to hit home. ``We were on automatic pilot until last night,\'\' said Richard Hassanein, whose home sits two houses from the wreckage. ``We couldn\'t think about ourselves.\'\' Hassanein\'s wife, Adrienne, said she still feels numbed. Mrs. Hassanein was one of the first to reach the scene after the red-and-orange jet crashed. ``It sounded and felt like an earthquake,\'\' she said. ``The scene was terrible. It was almost surreal. You don\'t forget something like that.\'\' The plane tore part of the rear deck off a house, but damaged no other homes on Long Island\'s North Shore. Even so, the community will never fully recover from the emotional impact, Mrs. Hassanein said. On Sunday, residents dressed in running gear, many with dogs in tow, looked on in disbelief as investigators dug for clues. Most suitcases and other personal effects were hauled away Saturday, but the odd shoe or piece of clothing remained amid broken seats, inflated life vests, oxygen masks and bits of fuselage. Police guarding the wreckage looked around in dismay, occasionally picking up an item of clothing or passport, then silently letting it fall. ``I don\'t want to be here,\'\' one officer said. ``No one does.\'\' The quiet search recalled the strange silence that preceded Thursday\'s crash. All four engines stopped before the plane went down, indicating it may have run out of fuel. ``I was paying bills, watching television and listening to the wind, when I heard a thud. I thought lightning had struck,\'\' said Marjorie Isaksen, whose home sits above the crash site. Mrs. Isaksen said she heard about the tragedy about 15 minutes later when a friend phoned to check on her. ``My reaction was utter disbelief,\'\' she said. ``I didn\'t really realize what had happened until I knelt beside an injured man lying on a stretcher and lay my coat over him,\'\' Mrs. Isaksen said. ``His face was swollen and bloody. I cried when I was alone with him.\'\' Mrs. Isaksen said, however, that the tragedy still hasn\'t ``set into my brain.\'\'\r\n'),(1891,2,'A new generation of skyscrapers is about to alter the skyline of Atlanta, previously dismissed as sterile and nondescript. Even homegrown architect John Portman, whose glass towers and soaring atriums for years defined Atlanta and who in the past criticized post-modern architecture as a step backward, has given a nod to the style in his latest project, a 60-story office building planned for downtown Atlanta. Much of the excitement over the pending transformation of the capital of the New South started last fall with the opening of the 50-story IBM building. Officially called One Atlantic Center, it is a slender, post-modern tower of stone with tall arched entryways and Gothic finials, dramatically crowned by a 100-foot-high, eight-sided copper pyramid topped by a golden lantern. Rush-hour traffic on Interstate 85 slows to a cautious crawl as drivers gaze its way. At night, the lights in its crown command attention from all over town. Architecture writers have used words like ``gracious,\'\' ``truly wonderful,\'\' ``serene,\'\' ``imposing\'\' and ``glamorous\'\' to describe the tower. ``It certainly projects a vibrance to the rest of the world,\'\' said Roy Cooper, vice president for economic development with the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce. ``It\'s just beautiful. Everybody\'s just staggered by it.\'\' The tower is a dramatic departure from the glass boxes common in modern architecture and contrasts with the sleek look of most of the city\'s tallest buildings. Its influence shows up in at least three other skyscrapers going up in Atlanta, and the design of the proposed Promenade skyscraper complex was altered to complement the rose-colored IBM tower. New York architect John Burgee, whose firm designed the IBM building with design consultant Philip Johnson, won\'t take credit for transforming Atlanta\'s skyline. But he said the city\'s image, as defined by the way it looks, is undergoing a change. ``Atlanta has been looking for its identity,\'\' Burgee said in a telephone interview from his New York office. ``It\'s an historical city (but) its architecture and image is not strictly historical. You think of Atlanta and you think of `Gone With The Wind.\' Now, there is an attempt to come up with a visual image. ``We all know Peachtree Street, but you don\'t think of its buildings,\'\' he said. ``Like in New York, the Empire State Building; Chicago, the Sears building; San Francisco, the TransAmerica building. Atlanta doesn\'t have that. It\'s moving toward that, very definitely.\'\' Burgee and Johnson also are behind One Ninety One Peachtree Tower, a post-modern skyscraper planned for downtown Atlanta. Another planned project grouped in the ``Son of IBM\'\' building spurt is the Promenade in the tree-lined, historic Midtown section, a complex of three office buildings and a hotel being developed by AT&T and the Atlanta-based Landmarks Group. When unveiled last year, it was designed with an exterior of glittering green glass. But when Promenade officials saw the excitement over the nearby IBM Tower, its architects, Thompson, Ventulett & Stainback, redrew the plans to use rose glass above rose-toned stone and topped with a gray steel spire. The most recently announced skyscraper is a downtown giant by Portman, whose imprint is already deeply felt in Atlanta, primarily through the Peachtree Center and the towering cylindrical Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel. Portman\'s new building is slated to begin construction next year and, at 60 stories, will eclipse One Atlantic as the Southeast\'s tallest building. Unveiling the design in May, Portman said it was ``respectful of the past but, like this city, is audacious and bold and forward-looking _ the beginning of post-post-modern architecture.\'\' Dale Durfee, a professor of architecture at Georgia Tech, said completion of the IBM tower signaled the acceleration of a change in the look of the city that began a decade ago. ``Atlanta was pretty much plain vanilla,\'\' he said, ``with no development of architectural significance.\'\' Burgee echoed that appraisal, saying, ``It was pretty nondescript. It might be anyplace. If they took you (to Atlanta) blindfolded and took off the blindfold, you wouldn\'t have a clue where you are.\'\' Durfee said that 10 years ago, Atlanta was groping to form an identity and had no demand for the type of buildings now are going up. Today, however, companies want sophistication in their office buildings, Durfee said, and corporate sponsorship of building projects has changed the rules of skyscraper financing. Some say that all the building activity simply makes good business sense. ``Sure, there\'s competitive prestige. Good architecture is good business,\'\' said Truman Hartshorn, chairman of the geography department at Georgia State University and a specialist in urban affairs. A good-looking building, he said, ``is easier to sell to the financing people as well as the tenants.\'\' Hartshorn said he expects the new projects in Atlanta will bring special recognition. ``I think it\'s going to open some eyes,\'\' he said. ``We have prestige with our cultural buildings, but I don\'t know that our office buildings are that distinctive nationally. ``These aren\'t just ultra post-modern. They\'re classic. They\'re different.\'\'\r\n'),(1892,2,'Here are excerpts from recent editorials in newspapers in the United States and abroad. June 4 The Dallas Morning News on honorariums: Apparently, the political liabilities connected with accepting speaking fees have become too great for 34 senators. A spot check by Congressional Quarterly magazine has found that the lawmakers are either declining all honorariums from outside groups or directing the money to charity. That number is 15 more than last year. For many voters, the practice among lawmakers of accepting speaking fees from the same special interests that seek to influence them has become a striking symbol of what is wrong with Congress. Last year, House members, in exchange for a pay raise, voted to ban honorariums beginning in 1991. But the Senate refused to follow suit. Instead, the senators adopted a wimpish plan to abolish speaking fees gradually, reducing the amount they can keep each year by the amount they receive in cost-of-living salary increases. Judging by the Congressional Quarterly survey, however, a fair number have taken it upon themselves to end the payoffs immediately. Good for them. ... Ideally, the Senate will come to its senses soon and ban honorariums altogether, with or without a pay raise. Until then, one can only hope that these examples of self-denial catch on.\r\n'),(1893,2,'President Reagan asked the Senate on Friday to ratify a United Nations treaty against torture and ``demonstrate unequivocally our desire to bring an end to the abhorrent practice.\'\' Reagan said, however, that if the treaty is ratified he will declare that the United States does not recognize the competence of an international committee it sets up to investigate charges of systematic torture in the United States. ``I believe that a final United States decision as to whether to accept such competence of the committee should be withheld until we have had an opportunity to assess the committee\'s work,\'\' the president said. The treaty was unanimously adopted by the U.N. General Assembly in 1984 and was signed by the United States last month. ``It marks a significant step in the development during this century of international measures against torture and other inhuman treatment or punishment,\'\' Reagan said. ``Ratification of the convention by the United States will clearly express United States opposition to torture, an abhorrent practice unfortunately still prevalent in the world today.\'\' The treaty requires each signatory country to either prosecute torturers who are found in its territory or extradite them to other countries for prosecution. ``By giving its advice and consent to ratification of this convention, the Senate of the United States will demonstrate unequivocally our desire to bring an end to the abhorrent practice of torture,\'\' the president said. Reagan also submitted to the Senate for ratification a treaty signed in Montreal in February, under auspices of the International Civil Aviation Organization, providing for international cooperation in combatting terrorism at airports.\r\n'),(1894,2,'A federal appeals court today extended the midnight deadline for the government\'s illegal alien amnesty program in New York state, giving many aliens with U.S.-born children on welfare another two weeks to register. The state has been seeking a 60-day extension and the court\'s order will apply until another hearing the week of May 16, said Chris Braithwaite, a spokesman for the state attorney general\'s office. The amnesty program allows illegal aliens who have lived in the United States since Jan. 1, 1982, to apply for legal status and U.S. citizenship. The deadline runs out at midnight tonight, but New York state asked for the extension because there was initial confusion about the program\'s application to parents of U.S.-born children on welfare. The order by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals applies only to the illegal alien program in New York state. It was not immediately determined whether it would apply to all aliens or only those with U.S.-born children. The Immigration and Naturalization Service urged those eligible for legalization to apply by midnight tonight ``as it is not clear what the impact of this order may be.\'\' The court told lawyers for the state and the INS to work out specifics of the order, including which illegal aliens would be affected, Braithwaite said. If the sides could not agree on an order this afternoon the court said it would issue its own order, he said. Greg Leo, an INS spokesman in Washington, said he understood that any order ``will only apply to a limited class of people ... who may be ineligible for amnesty because their children have received AFDC benefits.\'\' The action may only affect several hundred people in New York, Leo said. The issue arose because aliens who are likely to need public assistance, such as welfare, are among those who cannot be accepted in the amnesty program. The state asked whether poor illegal aliens with U.S.-born children who receive welfare in the Aid to Families with Dependent Children program can qualify for amnesty. Technically the children are the welfare recipients, because they are U.S. citizens. Braithwaite said there are ``a lot\'\' of such families, but he had no count. The INS initially said the parents of such children would not be eligible, then said they would be eligible, Braithwaite said. Because of the confusion, the state sued the INS for a 60-day extension of the deadline and a $100,000 advertising campaign explaining the policy. Leo cautioned that illegal aliens not involved in the litigation should apply by tonight\'s midnight deadline. ``INS strongly urges anyone eligible for amnesty to apply by midnight tonight as this is the deadline for virtually all potential applicants,\'\' he said. ``It would be tragic for people who are eligible for this program not to come forward by midnight on the basis of misinformation.\'\'\r\n'),(1895,2,'President Reagan says former national security aides Oliver North and John Poindexter are not being presumed innocent on conspiracy, theft and fraud charges in the Iran-Contra scandal. ``Someplace along the line, many of us have forgotten that you are innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt,\'\' Reagan told a group of regional reporters on Tuesday. ``What has happened, I think, in the case is it\'s just everyone is accepting guilt on the basis of accusation.\'\' North, Poindexter and arms dealers Richard V. Secord and Albert A. Hakim pleaded innocent last week to charges that they defrauded the government of more than $17 million by diverting profits from the Iran arms sales to the Nicaraguan Contra rebels. Although he once again spoke out on behalf of his indicted former aides, Reagan backed away somewhat on Tuesday from his assertion last week that North is still an American hero. Reagan said he was referring to the Marine\'s wartime record. ``I think I was too short in my remark when I answered the question,\'\' Reagan said. ``I should have augmented that and said why, and that is: Look at the record and at the honors and the medals that have been awarded him for bravery in combat,\'\' Reagan said. ``And I have to say those were heroic actions and he is a valid hero.\'\' North, who has announced he will retire from the Marine Corps in May, received a Silver Star and two Purple Hearts in the Vietnam War. He said after his indictment that he might attempt to subpoena the ``highest-ranking\'\' government officials to testify in his defense. Reagan declined to say on Tuesday whether he would testify on North\'s behalf.\r\n'),(1896,2,'The government and the ruling party on Tuesday adopted a new economic policy guideline aimed at meeting promises made in recent trade talks with the United States. The new guideline calls for opening Japan\'s markets to more foreign goods, making fiscal and budgetary policy changes to conform with other trading partners, and increasing foreign aid. ``We must push forward the adjustment of Japan\'s economic structure in order to improve the nation\'s standard of living and promote consumer benefits in accordance with world economic growth,\'\' said a government statement. The policy was adopted by the Government-LDP Economic Structural Adjustment Board, which consists of bureaucrats and lawmakers from the governing Liberal Democratic Party. It marks a major revision in the direction suggested for Japan\'s economy. A 1986 guideline, known as the Maekawa Report, urged a drastic shift from heavy reliance on exports to increased domestic demand to reduce the country\'s trade surpluses. In recent months, however, a number of government and LDP panels have called for less emphasis on expanding domestic demand and more on international cooperation and benefits for Japanese consumers, who now pay some of the world\'s highest prices. The new guideline suggests that Japan\'s economy already has been transformed to a domestic orientation and notes that its trade surplus has been decreasing. ``For us to assume a role and responsibilities compatible with our position in the international community, ... it is an extremely important theme for Japan to promote the adjustment of our economy to a more internationally cooperative style,\'\' it said. In addition to improved living standards, the guideline calls for shorter working hours and longer vacations. In its interim report on the U.S.-Japan Structural Impediment Initiative talks, released in April, Tokyo promised to streamline its complicated distribution system, tighten the anti-monopoly law and increase government spending on public works to help improve the nation\'s standard of living. The report said such measures would lead to a reduction of Japan\'s $49 billion surplus in trade with the United States. The new guideline, like the trade report, calls for easing the Large Scale Store Law, which U.S. trade negotiators say makes it hard for foreign stores to open outlets in Japan.\r\n'),(1897,2,'EDITOR\'S NOTE - The kibitzers this night include a playwright from Spain, a drug dealer, a Queens housewife, a master chess player from Harlem, a biker and assorted yuppies. They are in a hotel next door to the old theater where Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov sit hunched over their chessboard. They watch the action on closed-circuit TV and debate the players\' every move, their politics, their diet, their very nose scratchings.\r\n'),(1898,2,'Pianist Leon Fleisher\'s tragedy was losing his right hand to a crippling muscle disorder. His triumph was showing the world that it hardly mattered. After building a new life for himself in the past quarter-century as a conductor and teacher, Fleisher, 62, returned to the concert stage last weekend for a bravura piano recital featuring solo works for the left hand only. His homecoming performance in the Kennedy Center\'s crowded Terrace Theater was praised by music critics with the same enthusiasm that greeted his Carnegie Hall debut with the New York Philharmonic in 1944, when he was a gangly 16-year-old from San Francisco. Several works on Saturday night\'s program were written for other great pianists who, like Fleisher, were unable to use their right hands. They included Russian composer Alexander Scriabin, who suffered the same ailment as Fleisher, and Viennese pianist Paul Wittgenstein, who lost his right arm in World War I. It was Fleisher\'s first solo recital in a major concert hall since he was stricken more than 25 years ago. When Fleisher withdrew from the concert stage in April 1965, on the eve of a European tour with the Cleveland Orchestra, his right-hand fingers had become weak, numb and beyond control. Once hailed by The New York Times as ``the finest American pianist of his (and probably any) time,\'\' Fleisher was devastated. ``I had the sense that my whole world had dropped out from under me,\'\' he said. ``My whole life\'s direction pointed toward the abyss. For two years, I struggled with, `Why did this happen to me?\' I was wallowing in self-pity.\'\' He was rescued by Dina Koston, a former student at the Peabody Institute in Baltimore, who persuaded him to become co-director and conductor of the Kennedy Center\'s resident chamber music ensemble, the Theater Chamber Players, in 1968. ``She came up with a suggestion that took me out of that abyss and showed me I could still function as a musician,\'\' Fleisher said. Thus began his resurrection as guest conductor of many of the world\'s major symphony orchestras, an opera conductor, associate conductor of the Baltimore Symphony and artistic director of the Berkshire Music Center at Tanglewood, Mass. Meanwhile, Fleisher completed 30 years of teaching at Peabody last spring, and is busy recording the known repertoire of left-hand piano concertos with the Boston Symphony. He plans to write his memoirs under the title, ``Eighty-Eight Keys And No Lock.\'\' Doctors have never diagnosed his affliction, which he dismisses as ``writer\'s cramp.\'\' A subsequent bout of carpal tunnel syndrome, a painful nerve disorder of the wrist and hand which Scriabin and Robert Schumann also suffered, was cured surgically. These ailments are common to professional pianists, typists and others whose work requires sustained, repetitive wrist motions. ``Man was not created for the computer keyboard or the piano,\'\' Fleisher said. Fleisher said he practiced ``incorrectly, even stupidly,\'\' for six to eight hours a day for 20 years until the muscles of his right hand ``just curled up and said, don\'t beat on me anymore.\'\' The damage was irreversible. No matter. Fleisher is too busy savoring his rich new life to waste time fretting over the past. ``I\'ve learned a lot,\'\' he said. ``What you think are the most important things in the world are not the most important. What\'s important are relations with people, nature, the world around us. That\'s where it\'s at.\'\' Fleisher said his handicap has ``somehow opened my ears,\'\' making him a good listener for the first time in his life. He believes it also has improved his teaching by forcing him to verbalize his musical concepts, instead of demonstrating them on the keyboard. The ecstasy of conducting has been a revelation, he said. He recalled conducting the Boston Symphony in a performance of Rachmaninoff\'s Symphony No. 2. ``It took my breath away,\'\' he said. ``It was like riding the crest of a tidal wave. It was incredible.\'\' He also enjoyed ``some extraordinary moments\'\' conducting a community orchestra in Annapolis, Md., whose amateur musicians ``got so caught up that they rose to levels they never knew they were capable of.\'\' Just as he has finally learned to play the piano properly, using forearms and shoulders rather than hammering away with curled fingers, Fleisher has become aware of the hazards of such ordinary objects as doorknobs. ``It\'s a totally unhealthy design,\'\' he said, curving his fingers around an imaginary doorknob and twisting his wrist. ``Door handles are much better.\'\'\r\n'),(1899,2,'Michael Dukakis opened a 10-day final push in his underdog bid for the presidency Saturday by promising a crowd of about 10,000 at a rousing rally that he would fight for American farmers and workers. Dukakis stopped on a trip to California to visit Sioux Falls for a ``Salute to Rural America,\'\' a fairgrounds event with an audience including supporters bused in from Iowa, North Dakota, Nebraska and Minnesota. ``They want you to forget their record,\'\' Dukakis told a boisterous crowd of about 10,000 people. ``Rural Americans have lost a lot, but they haven\'t lost their memories.\'\' The Democratic presidential nominee blamed Reagan administration farm policies for a drop in farm exports, falling crop prices and the loss of 250,000 family farms in the past eight years. Dukakis promised an administration sympathetic to small towns and said rival George Bush instead wanted to give a $40 billion tax break to the nation\'s wealthy. ``They want to help the people who live high off the hog,\'\' Dukakis said. ``We want to help the people in this country who raise the hogs.\'\' Dukakis, surrounded by elected officials from the five states, told his audience that the ``Republican philosophy is the fewer farms the better.\'\' ``Every farm and ranch in this country counts, and every small town is somebody\'s home,\'\' Dukakis said to enthusiastic applause. Dukakis ridiculed Bush\'s promise to wage a ``kinder, gentler\'\' campaign in the final weeks, a pledge Bush made just before resuming harsh attacks on Dukakis. ``I wish his handlers would make up his mind,\'\' Dukakis said. Sioux Falls was the first stop for Dukakis on a final-push campaign trip that will bring him to an average of four cities a day. Still well behind Bush in most polls but encouraged by a recent tightening of the race, Dukakis is keeping a high television profile during the waning days of the campaign to help him spread his message. Dukakis tailored his Populist appeal to rural and farm issues, accusing the Reagan administration of turning its back on family farmers and rural communities. He also criticized a Friday decision by the administration to refuse a request by U.S. rice farmers to investigate Japan\'s trading practices and said the decision was an ominous harbinger of the trade policies Bush would bring to the White House. ``This decision is only the latest instance of the Republicans\' refusal to stand up for American jobs and American farmers in world markets,\'\' Dukakis said in a statement. ``The facts are so unequivocal that this decision raises grave doubts about the Republicans\' intention to enforce the new trade act.\'\' In contrast, Dukakis said, he and running mate Lloyd Bentsen would demand that foreign countries with access to U.S. markets open their doors to U.S. products. And he said a Dukakis administration would bring to rural America reasonable price supports for farmers, financing for economic development in rural communities, an immediate $100 million investment in rural health care, and agressive enforcement of worker safety guidelines _ a hot issue in this state, where the John Morrell & Co., meatpacking plant was fined $4.3 million Friday after being accused of violations of safety standards. Dukakis met with several Morrell workers before addressing the rally, and he questioned the timing of the fine. ``We\'re not going to wait until 10 days before the election to do something about it,\'\' he said of safety problems in the meatpacking and other industries. He also said the Farmers Home Administration was waiting until six days after the election to mail out notices to 90,000 family farmers, telling them they will have to refinance loans or face foreclosure. Dukakis said he could sense the race was tightening and joked about his vision of the outcome. ``This one is going to go down to the wire and it\'s going to be one by a nose,\'\' Dukakis said. ``If this one is one by a nose, I don\'t have to tell you who\'s going to win.\'\' Dukakis headed from South Dakota to California for an evening rally with supporters in the Watts section of Los Angeles. On Sunday he is taking a train tour through several California communities. Dukakis is on the road through Election Day, scheduled to arrive home on a cross-country flight that gets him to Boston shortly after the polls open.\r\n'),(1900,2,'A Disney-controlled company seeking to acquire Polaroid Corp. is considering a plan to dismantle the instant camera pioneer if its hostile takeover succeeds, court testimony has revealed. Shamrock Holdings Inc. President Stanley P. Gold testified Wednesday on the first day of a critical legal battle with Polaroid that no decision has been made on the proposal from Wertheim Schroeder, Shamrock\'s investment adviser. Gold said the investment bank recommended that Shamrock sell off Polaroid\'s manufacturing businesses, cut back on research and development, reduce the administrative staff and settle pending antitrust litigation with Eastman Kodak Co. Previously, Shamrock had said only that it would reverse Polaroid\'s decision to enter the 35mm film business, settle the Kodak suit and sell off certain Polaroid assets. Shamrock advisers identified those assets as real estate valued at roughly $200 million. Polaroid fell 75 cents a share to close at $38.50 in consolidated New York Stock Exchange trading Wednesday. Gold was the only witness in the first day of the Chancery Court trial, which is scheduled to take five days before Vice Chancellor Caroline Berger. Opening arguments were be given later in the trial. Shamrock, a Burbank, Calif.-based television and radio concern controlled by Roy E. Disney, filed suit in July against Polaroid. Shamrock is seeking unspecified damages and asking the court to permanently enjoin or rescind Polaroid\'s employee stock ownership plan that would all but prevent Shamrock from acquiring Polaroid. The plan places 14 percent of Polaroid stock in employees\' hands. Under Delaware takeover law, a hostile bidder must acquire more than 85 percent of a target\'s outstanding shares for control. Polaroid is incorporated in Delaware. The 10-million-share, $300 million employee stock plan was announced July 12, the same day Polaroid canceled a July 13 meeting with Shamrock and a week before Shamrock made its first $40-a-share bid for Polaroid. Shamrock claims stock plan was designed to thwart a takeover. Shamrock was rebuffed in its unsolicited bid before making a hostile offer of $42 a share last month that put a value of $2.6 billion on the company that introduced instant snapshots in 1948. Polaroid said the offer was too low and advised stockholders to reject it. Gold said that if the July 13 meeting had been held, he would not have told Polaroid he discussed takeover financing with several banks. He also did not intend to discuss Wertheim Schroeder\'s proposals, Gold said. ``There was no decision made on those things, and, no, I wasn\'t going to tell (Polaroid) about them. We hadn\'t made any decisions on (Wertheim Schroeder\'s) ideas,\'\' Gold said. He said the meeting ``was to determine whether or not we could have continued dialogue.\'\' Gold said that under an agreement with Polaroid, Shamrock was not to ``make any proposals or offers which would require disclosure\'\' during the meeting. He acknowledged that selling Polaroid\'s assets or settling the Kodak case would not have required public disclosure. Gold also testified that he had furnished information about the proposals to several banks, including Wells Fargo and the Bank of Nova Scotia. ``But I did not ask them to finance\'\' the entire acquisition, Gold said. A January trial is scheduled to determine damages in Polaroid\'s successful patent infringement lawsuit against Kodak. Polaroid is seeking $5.7 billion. Gold said he told the banks that Shamrock was exploring a takeover of Polaroid. Shamrock wanted to know if the banks would be interested in financing the venture if Shamrock decided to proceed, Gold said.\r\n'),(1901,2,'A convoy of trucks carried 110 tons of emergency food Friday to a war zone in the northern part of Ethiopia, but a damaged bridge prevented it from carrying all its planned load. The bridge was not strong enough to handle trucks with trailers attached, so each truck carried just 10 tons of food instead of the 22 tons that would have been possible with trailers, said Yohannes Abraham. Abraham is an official of the Catholic Relief Services in Ethiopia. Eleven trucks made the 74-mile journey from the provincial capital of Dessie over a mountainous road to Kobo. Another convoy of 11 trucks covered the same route Monday in what relief officials said was a trial run. Its drivers reported the damaged bridge. Both trips went without a hitch. A consortium of Ethiopian churches is ferrying the food into the area, which is caught in the conflict between government troops and the rebel Tigre People\'s Liberation Front. The Tigreans are fighting to oust President Mengistu Haile Mariam and establish a government patterned after that of Albania, the last hard-line Marxist state in Eastern Europe. The emergency food comes largely from private donors in the United States and Western Europe. It is intended to feed 1 million people deprived because of the war and drought. A formal cease-fire does not exist, but the rebels and government have promised safe passage for convoys. The church groups hope to extend their distribution network from the north to southern Eritrea province, where another war is under way between the government and the secessionist Eritrean People\'s Liberation Army.\r\n'),(1902,2,'A new TV production company, Ventura Entertainment Group, entered the bidding Thursday for De Laurentiis Entertainment Group Inc., a movie-maker operating under the protection of federal bankruptcy court. Ventura Entertainment announced it had offered $35 million in cash and equity for De Laurentiis, which was founded by Italian filmmaker Dino De Laurentiis. Ventura Entertainment Chairman Harvey Bibicoff refused to disclose how much of the offer was in cash. At least three other entertainment companies have expressed interest in buying the assets of De Laurentiis, whose productions have included a remake of ``King Kong.\'\' A De Laurentiis spokesman referred questions about the bid to the company\'s investment banker, Oppenheimer & Co., whose Los Angeles office did not respond to requests for comment Thursday afternoon. Any transaction would require the approval of De Laurentiis creditors and the U.S. Bankruptcy Court. De Laurentiis, which lost $478,000 in the second quarter, filed for protection from its creditors under Chapter 11 of the federal Bankruptcy Code in mid-August. Ventura, an Encino-based public company, was formed six months ago by producer Irwin Meyer, former Columbia Pictures executive Stephen Girard and Bibicoff. Its only finished project is ``International Celebration of the Piano,\'\' a concert film for television. De Laurentiis\' assets include North Carolina Film Studios in Wilmington, N.C., which is rented out for various productions; Onyx Entertainment, which holds the rights to various scripts, and United States rights to show the studio\'s library of 350 movies, including ``The Graduate\'\' and ``Carnal Knowledge.\'\' Other bidders divulged by the company are troubled moviemaker Cannon Group Inc., videodisk producer Image Entertainment Inc. and Atlantic Entertainment Group.\r\n'),(1903,2,'Nurses were flown in from elsewhere in California and from out of state as officials promised quality care at six area hospitals despite a strike by about 2,000 registered nurses. ``We feel we are able to operate with some (reductions) but still are able to offer our range of services,\'\' said Dr. Kenneth Hammerman, chief of staff at St. Francis Memorial Hospital. The nurses, demanding higher pay and regular raises for veteran employees, walked off the job Tuesday morning. Ten other hospitals in San Francisco remain unaffected. The six hospitals continued operating, caring for about 900 patients with management employees and temporary nurses, officials said. The hospitals, which negotiated as a group called Affiliated Hospitals of San Francisco, also transferred some patients, consolidated some critical-care units and referred some patients elsewhere. Hospital officials declined to say how many nurses were flown in. California Nurses Association spokeswoman Maureen Anderson estimated the number at 20 to 30. The walkout, which occurred after the nurses rejected a last-minute, revised offer, was the first widespread strike by registered nurses here since 1974. No new talks were scheduled. Hardest hit was the 61-bed Marshall Hale Hospital in San Francisco, where the emergency room was closed, operations canceled and no new patients were being admitted. Nurses on the picket lines questioned the qualifications of temporary workers and the quality of patient care. ``Common sense tells me I would not go to an Affiliated Hospital with nearly 4,000 workers on strike,\'\' Anderson said. Affected hospitals were St. Francis, Marshall Hale, Children\'s, Mount Zion and St. Mary\'s in San Francisco and Seton Medical Center in Daly City. The nurses want an 11 percent raise the first year and 10 percent the second year of a two-year contract. Affiliated Hospitals late Monday offered 18 percent over 31 months. Registered nurses at Affiliated Hospitals earn from about $31,000 to about $36,000 for day shifts and up to $43,000 a year for night shifts.\r\n'),(1904,2,'The Federal Aviation Administration\'s ambitious modernization of its air traffic control system will cost billions of dollars more than the agency estimates because of unforeseen technical problems and delays, a congressional report says. Largely because of unexpected problems in developing and installing the new communications, radar, weather observation and computer systems, the upgrading will cost at least $24 billion, the General Accounting Office told Congress Tuesday. The FAA, which operates the air traffic control system and is obtaining the new equipment, acknowledges that the program has fallen behind schedule but has put the expected cost at $15.3 billion. ``Many of these technologies had to be invented, and the FAA underestimated how long it would take to invent some of these things,\'\' Kenneth M. Mead, an associate director of GAO, told the House transportation appropriations subcommittee. The report by GAO, Congress\' investigative arm, also said hundreds of pieces of equipment that are being delivered to FAA facilities across the country are simply sitting in sheds because the agency lacks enough workers to install them. ``It\'s like ordering a piano and not having a living room to put it in,\'\' said Rep. William Lehman, D-Fla., chairman of the subcommittee. FAA Administrator Allan McArtor said in an interview after the hearing that the GAO figures were ``misleading,\'\' but acknowledged that the plan, introduced in 1981, is running behind its original timetable. The GAO report focused on the National Airspace System plan, the second largest civilian technology project ever undertaken in the United States, behind only the Apollo manned spacecraft program. Federal officials believe the new equipment is necessary to keep up with the continuing growth of aviation, the fastest growing segment of American transportation. The FAA originally hoped the new equipment would be in place by 1996. But officials now concede that because of delays, the project will not be completed until at least the year 2000. The study by GAO said that of the 12 major systems that comprise the modernization project, only one _ a computer _ is nearing completion. Major components have been delayed from between one year and five years, the report said. Reagan administration officials have blamed many of the delays on the slowness of federal purchasing procedures, and on a refusal by Congress to provide enough money to buy the equipment. Meanwhile, a broad coalition of aviation groups, aircraft manufacturers and airlines called on not only the industry but air travelers to put pressure on the government to expand airspace and airport capacity. The coalition, forming a group called Partnership for Improved Air Travel, announced a two-year campaign to enlist grassroots support for spending more money on airports and improvements in the air traffic control system. The air traffic modernization plan must be put ``on a fast track\'\' and new airports must be built or air travelers will face declining service, mounting delays and travel problems in the coming years, the coalition warned at a news conference. ``Unless we modernize the (air traffic system) quickly, we\'ll choke off growth to the detriment of all,\'\' declared Robert Crandall, chairman of American Airlines. Crandall was among five airline chief executives, and leaders of groups representing aircraft manufacturers, business flyers, private and commercial pilots and airport officials who attended a news conference announcing the campaign. The group envisions spending up to $15 million over the next two years to publicize the need for more airports and an improved air traffic control system. ``The nation has not yet made a commitment to create an (aviation) system that can efficiently meet today\'s demand and anticipate tomorrow\'s,\'\' said Herbert Kelleher, the chairman of Southwest Airlines, who also is chairman of the new coalition. Among the complaints voiced by the coalition were: too few air traffic controllers are being hired and trained, federal efforts to modernize the air traffic control technology is way behind schedule, there are too few airports and the Federal Aviation Administration needs to be restructured because it is hamstrung by bureaucratic restrictions.\r\n'),(1905,2,'Celebrities from the world of law, sports and politics paid tribute today to Edward Bennett Williams, a famed trial lawyer and Washington insider whose clients included the James Hoffa, Joseph McCarthy and Frank Sinatra. He died Saturday at age 68. More than 1,000 people crowded into St. Matthew\'s Cathedral for the 2{-hour Mass before Williams was laid to rest in St. Gabriel\'s Cemetery in Potomac, Md., near his home. Pallbearers included Washington Post executive editor Benjamin C. Bradlee, columnist Art Buchwald, former Cabinet officer Joseph Califano and law partner Brendan Sullivan. Williams died at Georgetown University Hospital after an 11-year battle with cancer. At the time of his death, Williams presided over the Washington law firm of Williams and Connolly and was owner of the Baltimore Orioles baseball team. He had been president of the Washington Redsksins football team for 20 years.\r\n'),(1906,2,'George Strait, who nearly quit singing 11 years ago, is the Country Music Association\'s top entertainer for the second straight year. Strait, frustrated over a lack of success, considered giving up his career in 1979 to work for a company that designs cattle pens, but he decided to keep going and soon became one of country music\'s top stars. His second win of the association\'s most prestigious honor came Monday during the CMA\'s 24th annual awards show. ``They were both surprises,\'\' the 38-year-old singer said after the nationally televised show. ``Everyone nominated certainly deserved to be there. But I\'m glad they picked me.\'\' Over the summer, he had the biggest hit record of his career, ``Love Without End, Amen.\'\' His album ``Livin\' It Up\'\' also has been a swift seller. ``It\'s hard not to be affected by this stuff,\'\' Strait said of his awards success. He shared laurels Monday night at the Grand Ole Opry House with the Kentucky HeadHunters, who won two awards, and with Clint Black and Kathy Mattea, who were chosen best vocalists. Tennessee Ernie Ford, 71, ``the Ol\' Peapicker,\'\' capped off his career by being chosen for the Country Music Hall of Fame. ``Bless your little pea-pickin\' hearts. Tonight I\'m a happy man,\'\' said Ford, a TV pioneer known for his 1955 hit record ``Sixteen Tons.\'\' The Kentucky HeadHunters, a five-piece band whose shaggy hair and rock \'n\' roll stylings make them unlikely country music stars, won vocal group of the year and best album for ``Pickin\' on Nashville.\'\' ``Does this mean we get to keep our hair?\'\' jested HeadHunters\' guitarist Greg Martin. Another double winner was newcomer Garth Brooks, who won top music video for ``The Dance\'\' and the Horizon Award for career development. His music video included clips of former President John Kennedy, the Challenger crew and John Wayne. Vince Gill, a singer who has done backup vocals for more than 100 of his peers, was rewarded by his friends when he won single of the year for ``When I Call Your Name.\'\' ``I\'ve been around for a long time and I\'ve waited for this for a long time so I\'m going to stand up here for a long time,\'\' Gill, 33, said in accepting the award. The Judds, a mother-daughter duo, were chosen best vocal duo for the third straight year. ``I have just one more space on my mantel. I was really hoping for this,\'\' daughter Wynonna Judd said. Lorrie Morgan and her late husband, Keith Whitley, won vocal event of the year honoring performers who normally don\'t sing together. Their award was for ``\'Til a Tear Becomes a Rose,\'\' which Whitley recorded alone. Morgan added her vocals after his death in May 1989. Song of the Year, a songwriter\'s award, went to Jon Vezner and Don Henry for the poignant ``Where\'ve You Been,\'\' which was recorded by Mattea, Vezner\'s wife. Fiddler Johnny Gimble won musician of the year for the fourth time in the past five years. Randy Travis, who has sold more than 10 million records in just four years, failed for the fourth time to win the entertainer of the year award. Ricky Van Shelton, voted No. 1 male singer a year ago, won nothing this year despite being nominated in three categories. Travis and Reba McEntire was hosts of the show. Winners were chosen by the 6,000 voting members of the CMA, mostly singers, musicians, songwriters, song publishers, record company employees and disc jockeys. The Hall of Fame honoree was selected by an anonymous 300-member committee.\r\n'),(1907,2,'Digital Equipment Corp., the No. 2 computer maker, is opening its doors to outside technology. Analysts say Digital\'s acquisition of a 5 percent stake in Mips Computer Systems Inc. marks a move to accept and implement technological advances occurring outside the company. Digital announced plans Wednesday to develop computer work stations based on the California company\'s technology. Work stations are expensive desktop computers that typically are used for work that requires extensive manipulation of numbers or sophisticated graphics, such as science, engineering, design and financial modeling. ``This is an acceptance on DEC\'s part that the computer user\'s dollar is being spent on work stations and small systems,\'\' said Bruce Watts, an analyst with Needham & Co. ``I think they feel that internally they\'ve got enough on their hands in terms of keeping their own product line up to date and competitive, and if they want to tap other segments of the market they have to look outside,\'\' he said. Digital said it is lining up with Mips, based in Sunnyvale, Calif., to speed new work station products to the marketplace. The Maynard-based computer giant is second to Sun Microsystems Inc. in the fast-growing work station field. Under the agreement, Digital will used Mips-designed microprocessors that use reduced instruction set computing, or Risc, a way to speed up computing by simplifying the steps a processor has to carry out. The faster Risc microprocessors are used increasingly in work stations. ``With the addition of Risc technology, Digital will offer customers even more versatility in computer performance to match specific application demands,\'\' said William Strecker, a Digital vice president. Digital stock closed at $92.62{ in composite New York Stock Exhange trading Wednesday, up 12{ cents. Analysts said they expect Digital to unveil a work station using Mips chip technology by the end of the year. They said the decision by Digital marks the first time it has strayed from its reliance on its own Vax computer design. Analysts also said the Mips deal marks a concession to industry standards because Risc-based systems work well with Unix, the standard operating software made by American Telephone & Telegraph. Digital also acquired the right to use future Mips technology. In the past, Digital has designed all its computer components itself.\r\n'),(1908,2,'A band of rain showers extended from Texas to Vermont on Friday, and rain also fell along the northern Pacific Coast. A cold snap in Alaska streched into its 15th day with no relief expected until at least Monday. The overnight low was minus 58 degrees at Fort Yukon. Rain showers and thunderstorms reached from west-central Texas across northern Texas, southeast Oklahoma, northern Arkansas and southwest Missouri. Thunderstorms in Texas brought hail to Waxahachee, Granview, Ferris and Peoria. Rain showers stretched from northeast Louisiana to eastern Mississippi, across northern Alabama, northern Georgia, northwestern South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia, northern Virginia, Ohio, western Pennsylvania, parts of New York state, and Vermont. Rain reached over the northern Pacific Coast, changing to snow in the higher elevations and extending into the northern half of the Rockies. Heavier rainfall during the 6 hours ending at 1 p.m. EST included 1.22 inches at Quillayute, Wash., about three quarters of an inch at Louisville, Ky., Tuscaloosa, Ala., Meridian, Miss., and Astoria, Ore. There were no reports of measurable snowfall during the same 6 hours. High temperature records were set for the date in Baltimore, 65; Beckley, W. Va., 64; Boston, 60; Bridgeport, Conn., 54; Cape Hatteras, N.C., 72; Mansfield, Ohio, 54; New York, 63; Philadelphia, 64; Portland, Maine, 55 and Richmond, Va., 72. The nation\'s low in the Lower 48 states was 12 below zero at Gunnison, Colo. Temperatures around the nation at 3 p.m. EST ranged from 13 degrees at Warroad, Minn., to 84 degrees at Fort Myers, Fla.\r\n'),(1909,2,'A General Motors Corp. subsidiary will buy an insurance holding company subsidiary of Xerox Financial Services for an undisclosed sum, the companies said Friday. Motors Insurance Corp., a subsidiary of GM\'s General Motors Acceptance Corp. unit, will acquire NAVCO Corp., a subsidiary of Xerox\'s Crum and Forster Inc. organization, the companies said. The deal faces regulatory approval and a vote from each company\'s board. NAVCO provides automobile insurance mainly to members of associations. It had annual premiums of about $147 million last year. Motors Insurance had revenues of $1.1 billion in 1989 and insures personal and commercial coverages and plans. Crum and Forster, based in Basking Ridge, N.J., also said it wants to sell its Viking Insurance Co. of Wisconsin. That company provides personal automobile insurance.\r\n'),(1910,2,'Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ann Richards on Thursday denounced an unattributed allegation that she was in a restroom where several women appeared to be smoking marijuana almost 11 years ago. ``Do you think this country has reached the point now ... that unsubstantiated people can say what they want to and suddenly it takes on the vein of truth by appearing on television and in the newspapers?\'\' Ms. Richards said at a campaign stop in Dallas. The state treasurer blamed her runoff opponent in Tuesday\'s primary election, Attorney General Jim Mattox, for spreading rumors about drug use. Mattox has said he possesses sworn statements from people who say they know Ms. Richards used illegal drugs in the past. But Mattox repeatedly has refused to reveal the names of those people or offer any other evidence to back up his accusations. The Houston Post on Thursday quoted a woman it didn\'t identify as saying she had seen Ms. Richards with a group of women in the restroom of an Austin hotel during the National Association of Women in Construction convention in 1979. The woman, who refused to tell her story unless guaranteed her name not be used, told the Post, ``When you walked in the door you could smell the definite aroma of marijuana. ``When I walked in (Ms. Richards) put her hand behind her and held it. The girl on the end, who I did not know, had a roach or a joint that had been smoked down in her hand,\'\' the woman told the newspaper. The Post report said the woman felt compelled to recount the incident after watching Ms. Richards refuse during televised debates to answer yes or no to the question of whether she had ever used illegal drugs. Ms. Richards, a recovering alcoholic, has said she has not had an alcoholic drink nor a mood-altering chemical in 10 years. Asked about the alleged 1979 incident, the state treasurer said, ``I have no idea what they\'re talking about.\'\' Ms. Richards said Thursday she was shocked the allegations had been reported. ``The surprising part is that now people are willing to put it in print, with no substantiation at all. That\'s not what this country is all about,\'\' she said. At a Thursday campaign stop in Lubbock, Mattox said he promised confidentiality to people who alleged Ms. Richards has used drugs. He also refused again to release his income tax records, as Ms. Richards has requested, unless she releases her medical records. When asked why, he said, ``Because I intend to win this campaign, and I choose the playing fields and I choose the methods by which we are going to play this game. That just happens to be the way politics work.\'\' Mattox has repeatedly said he expects to win the runoff and face Republican Clayton Williams in November. Releasing his income taxes when Williams hasn\'t done so would give Williams a signficant advantage, Mattox said.\r\n'),(1911,2,'National Broadcasting Co. has decided against buying the cable channel Tempo Television for its proposed business news service but plans instead to lease time on the channel for the new programming. The General Electric Co. unit, which owns the NBC Television Network, cited tax considerations for its change in strategy. Buying the cable channel was seen as part of NBC President Robert Wright\'s oft-stated plans to broaden the broadcasting concern\'s business base. NBC announced last month it had signed a letter of intent to buy Tempo Television, and would use it for new business news and sports programming. Tempo Television, a unit of Tempo Enterprises Inc. of Tulsa, Okla., currently provides outdoors, travel and informational programming to about 12 million subscribers. NBC had planned to acquire the channel from Telecommunications Inc., a Denver-based cable operator which is in the process of buying Tempo Enterprises in a deal expected to close in the third quarter. On Thursday, NBC and Telecommunications said they were restructuring their plans to minimize ``tax and other complications that arose from trying to separate Tempo Television from its parent, Tempo Enterprises.\'\' Under the new plan, the companies said NBC would lease time on Tempo Television for a business news service that would run from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. weekdays, starting in early 1989. ``Under the new arrangement, NBC will still own and manage the business news service, but will reach existing Tempo TV subscribers without actually purchasing Tempo TV,\'\' the announcement said. It said that Tempo Television would try to help the business news service succeed by paying the first year\'s affiliation fee on behalf of all current Tempo TV affiliates who continue to carry Tempo fulltime after the launch of the business news service. John Draper, a spokesman for Telecommunications, said the new arrangement ``gives NBC the same thing that they were after\'\' when it planned to buy the cable channel _ access to a large base of subscribers. He declined to specify how much NBC would pay for the lease. It had been reported that NBC had agreed to pay about $20 million to buy the channel. The statement did not indicate what the new plans were for introduction of the proposed sports programing that NBC previously said it would put on the cable channel. John Malone, president of Telecommunications, said in the statement that his company will ``continue to explore with NBC the best format for sports and other possible programming for a prime time and weekend service.\'\' Thomas S. Rogers, the NBC executive overseeing the Tempo deal, was unavailable for comment. But Joseph Rutledge, an NBC spokesman, said today that the change to a lease arrangement posed no obstacle to NBC accomplishing what it set out to do. ``Some people choose to lease a car. Some people choose to buy a car. Both people end up with transportation. We are ending up with the very outcome we sought,\'\' he said. The new arrangement will give NBC access to cable subscribers, a solid relationship with Telecommunications, which is the nation\'s biggest cable operator, and an opportunity to develop two new programming services for cable TV, Rutledge said. He said that NBC continues to talk with cable operators about what they would like to see in a sports service and that NBC hopes to begin developing sports programming for cable TV soon after the business news service goes on the air. Wright was quoted in the statement as saying, ``The cable industry has been very encouraging and we are enthusiastic about our plans going forward.\'\'\r\n'),(1912,2,'The Bush administration has put Syria on notice it has a ``special responsibility\'\' to curb violence in areas of Lebanon under Syrian control, the State Department said Wednesday. With the U.S. Embassy in Beirut closed, the United States is assessing blame for the mounting death toll since Gen. Michel Aoun, the last major Christian holdout, gave up his struggle against Syrian forces 11 days ago. The most recent prominent victim was Dany Chamoun, a Christian leader who also opposed Syrian influence. He, his wife and two small children were slain in their Beirut apartment last weekend. No one has claimed responsibility. ``We have seen the many press reports of atrocities carried out in East Beirut since the surrender of Gen. Aoun,\'\' Margaret D. Tutwiler, the State Department spokeswoman, said. ``We do not have firsthand knowledge which could confirm those reports. However, the reports themselves are enough to shock and horrify,\'\' The U.S. official added: ``if these reports are true, whoever is responsible the United States would condemn them in the strongest terms.\'\' The Bush administration had urged Aoun to end his resistance. Aoun has taken refuge in the French embassy. ``We have told the Syrians they have a special responsibility, given their control over parts of Lebanon, to ensure that such abuses do not take place in areas under their control,\'\' Ms. Tutwiler said, reading from a prepared statement. ``There is no ambiguity in the message we have sent to Syria on this point.\'\' Syria, which has influence over the Lebanese government headed by President Elias Hrawi, is a key Arab ally of the United States in its campaign against Iraq\'s occupation of Kuwait. Some 4,000 Syrian troops are in Saudi Arabia to help defend the kingdom against Iraqi attack. Ms. Tutwiler said Assistant Secretary of State John H. Kelly had met with Syrian Ambassador Walid al-Moualem here while Edward Djerejian, the U.S. ambassador to Syria, had met with Foreign Minister Farouk al-Shara in Damascus. Also, the spokeswoman said, Kelly met Tuesday and several times before then with the Lebanese ambassador, Nassib Lahoud.\r\n'),(1913,2,'Brown University and its food service, plant operations and library workers reached a contract agreement on Wednesday just hours before a midnight strike dedline. After two days of negotiations, the Ivy League school agreed to pay full health insurance premiums for members of Local 134 of the Service Employees International union. ``We feel that we have a great victory here,\'\' said Karen McAninch, the union\'s business agent.``The important thing is we got 100 percent Blue Cross coverage for the life of the agreement.\'\' A three-year contract for the 250 plant and food workers provided a 5.5 percent pay increase in the first year and a 5 percent increase in the remaining two years. The 90 library workers received a two-year contract that gave them a 5.5 percent increase in the first year and a 5 percent raise in the second. The contract was ratified by a show of hands by the plant and food workers and by a 50-21 vote from the library workers, McAninch said. The workers earlier this month authorized a strike for midnight Wednesday, when the contract covering plant and food workers expires. The contract for the library workers expired on Aug. 19. ``Both sides gave substantially in the interest of harmony to get the matter resolved,\'\' said Robert Reichley, a university spokesman. ``In the long run it may not be the best solution for both sides, but at least it averted a strike.\'\' On Tuesday, Brown officials offered a higher wage increase, but said they would pay only half the insurance premiums for the first year and 60 percent of following increases. McAninch said the principle of cost shifting was as important as the numbers. ``They knew that we were serious about striking and that we felt very strongly about the issues,\'\' she said. ``We had a lot of support from Brown University students.\'\'\r\n'),(1914,2,'The Socialist Party leadership on Monday strongly suggested President Kurt Waldheim should step down but stopped short of calling for his resignation. Chancellor Franz Vranitzky, party chief Fred Sinowatz and other party leaders also renewed an indirect offer to support a conservative candidate to be nominated for presidential elections if Waldheim quits. The resolution adopted by the Socialist leadership meeting said the report of a historians\' commission on Waldheim\'s service in the German army during World War II had ``badly shaken the president\'s moral authority at home and abroad.\'\' It also said that a televised speech by Waldheim on Feb. 15 ``has raised doubts about his ability to integrate\'\' Austria\'s opposing political camps. In that speech, Waldheim said he would not step down and dismissed as wrong unspecified parts of the report earlier this month by the international panel of historians that probed his wartime past. Waldheim, 69, has consistently denied any wrongdoing as a first lieutenant serving in the German army in the Balkans during the war. The resolution said the Socialists are ready, together with the conservative People\'s Party, junior partner in the coalition government, to ``look for a way toward a new beginning in the office of federal president.\'\' Asked whether this meant that the Socialists would agree to a joint conservative presidential candidate, Sinowatz told reporters ``this certainly includes also the question whether a personnel change is possible.\'\' Economics Minister Robert Graf and other leading officials of the conservative People\'s Party last week expressed increasing uneasiness in the party about the damage being done to the country if Waldheim clings to his post. Waldheim, elected in 1986, ends his term in 1992. The historians\' commission presented no evidence that would clearly back allegations Waldheim committed atrocities, but it left open the question of whether he was guilty of any crime. It said he was ``in close proximity\'\' to some Nazi atrocities in the Balkans, knew they were going on and made no attempt ot prevent them. It also said Waldheim concealed his wartime past and tried to make it seem harmless once he could no longer hide it.\r\n'),(1915,2,'On many trains, speed thrills. Scenery flashes past, and passengers dart from side to side to view this mountain or that river. Not so with a pair of popular rail excursions that amble through wilderness in Northern California, barely faster than the stagecoaches that preceded them more than a century ago. What the Skunk and North Coast Daylight trains lack in miles per hour, they make up for in dense redwood groves, remote river canyons and all-aboard camaraderie. The revival of the North Coast Daylight for a second straight summer run has enabled railroad buffs to witness a rare sight in this town 130 miles north of San Francisco: two passenger trains arriving at the same time. ``It reminds me of the old days,\'\' said Jim Claveo of San Francisco, arriving on the Daylight after the 10-hour, 144-mile trip from Eureka. ``They\'re very friendly, more friendly than on most trains. ``You ride it for the scenery, and you also ride it for the nostalgia.\'\' The Skunk Train, running along a 103-year-old line through Mendocino County woods to Fort Bragg on the coast, has been full of like-minded tourists all summer despite last year\'s complaints about heavy logging spoiling part of the view. Bob Reid, who has crammed 151 tourist pins onto his crowded conductor\'s cap, keeps travelers amused in his role as ticket-checker, guide and glad-hander. ``I\'ve been working for this railroad for 27 years, and it\'s still fun,\'\' said the Fort Bragg resident. ``Every day I meet new people from all over the world. There\'s only one Skunk Train.\'\' There was no North Coast Daylight train for almost two years following its ill-fated summer debut in 1985. On one of its early runs that year, the train was stranded by a landslide in the Eel River Canyon just 27 miles out of Willits. Financial problems and winter track damage caused suspension of the run, and service didn\'t resume until a year ago when Eureka Southern took over the line. The train is a reincarnation of the old Shasta Daylight that served the West Coast decades ago. It generally consists of eight cars: turquoise coaches, Shasta Daylight lounge cars with plush interiors and padded seats, a rare Southern Pacific club car with a standup bar decorated in ranch motif, and a classic Frisco Line parlor car where passengers may be served calzone or lasagna. Winding through the canyon on weather-beaten tracks that slow its speed to 10 mph, the North Coast Daylight can hit a rollicking 30 mph on straightaways. Twenty-nine tunnels enliven the trip, much of which is through wild terrain far from the nearest road. In addition to the usual sun-worshipers and skinny-dippers, passengers on one recent trip were treated to the sights of deer, bears, raccoons, river otters, wild pigs, an elk and an osprey clutching a trout in its beak along the peaceful banks of the Eel. ``The Eel River Canyon is one of the most beautiful river canyons I\'ve ever seen,\'\' said Anne Tolleson of Santa Rosa. ``It\'s a great ride if you\'re not in a hurry.\'\' Further north, the train chugs through the redwood forests of Humboldt County and past one of the world\'s largest redwood mills in Scotia, the town of Fortuna and the dairy community of Loleta before ending the outbound half of the journey on the coast at Eureka. Eureka Southern has a half-dozen more weekend trips, with overnight layovers in Eureka, scheduled from August through mid-October. Business has been good enough, at 150 to 200 passengers per trip, that the railroad plans to expand the schedule next year, according to business manager Steve Branstetter. The Skunk, meanwhile, continues to lure enough train fans to operate year-round. Gerald Allen, general manager of the Fort Bragg-based California Western Railroad that took it over in 1987, says the train should match last year\'s near-record total of 70,000 passengers taking the daily trips out of either Fort Bragg or Willits. About half the riders hail from the San Francisco Bay area. The line was founded as a logging railroad in 1885. Steam passenger service began in 1904 and was extended to Willits seven years later. Gas engines replaced steam in 1925, and the train\'s famous moniker was born shortly thereafter by trainmen who remarked that the smelly fumes had the aroma of a skunk. Today\'s trains are almost all diesel-powered, but the name has proven longer-lasting than the polecat\'s pungency. The serpentine route could be a roller coaster, climbing from sea level to 1,740 feet, crossing 31 bridges and trestles and disappearing into two pitch-black mountain tunnels. But top speed of 20 mph _ the average is 13 mph _ keeps this a leisurely family experience. The Skunk even stops to pick up campers or deliver groceries, mail and medicine to areas inaccessible by car. Passengers are let out for half an hour in deep woods at Northspur, the line\'s midway point, where they can buy snacks and gaze up at coastal redwoods towering more than 300 feet. Repeat patrons may notice a few more bare patches than in past years on the Fort Bragg half of the line. ``We never considered clear-cutting to be a major problem, but there are certainly some areas out there that are not the Avenue of the Giants by any stretch of the imagination,\'\' said Allen. ``Everybody wants a redwood deck, and that\'s where they come from.\'\'\r\n'),(1916,2,'While the infamous White House taping system was being planned, President Nixon suggested that he have a button to turn it on and off manually, but was dissuaded by an aide who says he thought the president was too clumsy. Therefore, a voice-activated system was installed and Nixon quickly lost awareness that his every conversation was being recorded, says former White House chief of staff H.R. Haldeman in an article for the National Archives publication ``Prologue.\'\' The tapes led to Nixon\'s resignation in August 1974 when they provided damning evidence that he had consented to the White House cover-up of the Watergate break-in. Haldeman said Nixon had resisted the idea of taping conversations but reluctantly agreed it was the best way to get an accurate record of meetings. ``He suggested we might install the same kind of switch- or button-operated machine that (Lyndon) Johnson had used.\'\' Haldeman wrote. ``That would allow him to turn the system on or off as he thought best.\'\' The former aide continued: ``I responded, `Mr. President, you\'ll never remember to turn it on except when you don\'t want it, and when you do want it you\'re always going to be shouting _ afterwards, when it\'s too late _ that no one turned it on.\' ``I added, silently, in my own thoughts, that this president was far too inept with machinery ever to make a success of a switch system.\'\' The taping system that finally was installed was activated by the Secret Service\'s locator system which keeps track of the president\'s whereabouts. Eventually, five microphones were put in the president\'s desk, two were in wall lamps at each side of the fireplace on the opposite side of the Oval Office, and there were others in the Cabinet Room, Nixon\'s office in the Old Executive Office Building and at Camp David, Md., the presidential retreat. ``The historiography of the Nixon administration will eventually be much the richer as a result of Richard Nixon\'s decision to tape-record his meetings and telephone conversations,\'\' Haldeman writes. ``Nixon was not thinking of historians when he made this decision, but they will be the ultimate beneficiaries.\'\' Haldeman\'s account is much softer in tone and less critical of Nixon than when he described the same events in a 1978 book, ``The Ends of Power,\'\' which he said ``was unfortunately sensational in many instances where I would have preferred it to be more reasoned and thorough.\'\' In the book, Haldeman said Nixon had ``fudged\'\' the tape story in various ways, ``climaxing with the assertion on television in 1977 that he had ordered me to destroy all of the tapes.\'\' There is no reference to that in the Prologue article. Haldeman says he is amazed how quickly he forgot about the system once it was in place. ``For a short time, I worried that it might not be working, and I dispatched someone to test the machinery,\'\' he writes. ``But the worry quickly passed, as did any awareness at all that Nixon\'s conversations _ my conversations, often _ were being taped. I think Nixon lost his awareness of the system even more quickly than I did.\'\' Nixon himself has written that ``initially I was conscious of the taping, but before long I accepted it as part of the surroundings.\'\' Nixon fired Haldeman in April 1973 at the height of the cover-up of the June 1972 break-in, when burglars placed bugs in telephones and searched files in Democratic Party headquarters in the Watergate Office Building. Haldeman served an 18-month prison term for his part in the affair. Haldeman said he chose to write about the taping system because the National Archives plans to release 60 hours of the recordings next year for public listening.\r\n'),(1917,2,'President F.W. de Klerk met Wednesday with with Desmond Tutu and other church leaders to discuss how to end black feuds in Natal province that have killed about 400 people in the past two months. In the latest violence in South Africa\'s black townships, 12 more people were reported killed and 200 injured since Monday night. ``The situation in Natal has reached proportions which are beyond human understanding and endurance,\'\' the South African Council of Churches said in a separate statement. The church council, made up of most major Protestant denominations, called ``on all people to use Holy Week ... through Easter Sunday to focus on prayer and fasting for the people of Natal in particular and South Africa as a whole.\'\' There were no immediate details on de Klerk\'s meeting with Archbishop Tutu, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, and other leaders of the South African Council of Churches. Before the meeting, de Klerk said, ``I think the churches have a role to play in ending the violence in the country.\'\' The King Edward VIII Hospital in the port city of Durban said it was so overcrowded due to the Natal fighting that it temporarily stopped admitting patients in need of surgery, even emergency cases. ``We simply cannot carry out any more surgery,\'\' said the hospital superintendent, Dr. A.M. Seedat. ``We have reached a situation where we cannot take on a single extra patient.\'\' Other hospitals in the area also are near capacity. Eight blacks were killed, including six by police fire, in dozens of clashes in black townships across the country, police said Wednesday in a report covering 56 incidents since Monday night. Two hundred people were injured and dozens were arrested, police said. Government-run radio reported four more people died in feuding between black political factions in the Crossroads township outside Cape Town. About 4,000 people have died in the Natal fighting since 1986. The main combatants are supporters of the African National Congress, the country\'s leading anti-apartheid group, and Inkatha, a relatively conservative Zulu organization. Both organizations have large numbers of youthful supporters they cannot control. Criminal gangs and other bands have also taken advantage of the chaos to loot, burn and murder. Hernus Kriel, the planning and provincial affairs minister, toured the northern Natal battle zones Wednesday and announced a $100,000 aid package for the estimated 13,000 Zulu refugees. He said the government\'s plan for dealing with the crisis would be announced in the next week or two, but could take six or seven years to carry out. ``The first thing that strikes me is the poverty of these people,\'\' Kriel said. ``We will have to provide the infrastructure for such basic needs as water, sewerage and rubbish removal.\'\' The police commissioner, Gen. Johan van der Merwe, told Parliament the secret to ending unrest was to send more security forces into troubled areas. The minister of law and order, Adriaan Vlok, said policemen were resigning at the rate of 22 per day, double the rate of two months ago. He proposed urgent increases in pay and benefits.\r\n'),(1918,2,'Donald Trump has pledged his 27.2 percent stake in Alexander\'s Inc. as collateral for his $65 million financial rescue from casino and bank debt, documents disclosed Tuesday. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Trump revealed that as part of the restructuring of some $2 billion in debt last week, he pledged more than 1.35 million shares in the New York department store chain as security. The three New York banks to which the Alexander\'s stock was pledged were not identified in the documents. The slumping New York real estate market and disappointing results from his Atlantic City, N.J., casinos put Trump in a cash squeeze earlier this year, endangering his ability to pay his debts on time. On June 15, Trump failed to make a $43 million payment on bonds issued to build the Trump\'s Castle hotel and casino in Atlantic City. He also was overdue on a $30 million loan payment to a group led by Manufacturer\'s Hanover Trust Co. But the New Jersey Casino Control Commission approved the bank bailout to help restructure about $2 billion of Trump\'s $3.2 billion casino and bank debt.\r\n'),(1919,2,'Daily News Publisher and President James Hoge has been elected chairman of the 1991 Pulitzer Prize board, Columbia University President Michael I. Sovern announced today. Hoge succeeds Eugene L. Roberts Jr., executive editor of The Philadelphia Inquirer and president of Philadelphia Newspapers Inc., who remains a Pulitzer board member. Hoge will serve as chairman for one year. In addition, scholar and critic Helen Vendler and Marilyn Yarbrough, dean of the University of Tennessee College of Law, have been elected to the board. Their election fills a vacancy left by Charlotte Saikowski, former Washington bureau chief of the Christian Science Monitor, and another created when the board voted to expand from 17 to 18 members in April. The Pulitzer board is responsible for recommending to Columbia University\'s trustees whom they should honor with annual awards for excellence in journalism and the arts.\r\n'),(1920,2,'More than a year after it began, the court-martial of the first member of the military to face prosecution on AIDS-related charges moves to its trial phase Tuesday. Pvt. Adrian G. Morris Jr., 28, of Caseyville, Ill., is accused of having threatened the health of three soldiers by failing to use condoms during sexual relations and by failing to warn them he had tested positive for exposure to the AIDS virus. Morris has pleaded innocent to three counts of aggravated assault, three counts of conduct bringing discredit upon the Army and one count of sodomy. He has chosen to stand trial at Fort Huachuca in southern Arizona before a sole military judge, rather than in front of a jury panel. Morris could be sentenced to up to 17 years in prison, dishonorable discharge and forfeiture of all pay and allowances if convicted. He allegedly had sexual relations with one male and two female soldiers. One of the women, his fiancee at the time, Spec. 4 Patricia C. Pruitt, gave birth last year to a child allegedly fathered by Morris. A hearing had been scheduled Monday on one remaining pretrial motion, but the judge, Col. Raymond D. Cole, decided instead to hold that hearing Tuesday before the trial starts. That motion involves a prosecution effort to have Cole reverse himself on a ruling in May that would require one of Morris\' alleged victims, known only as Jane Doe, to identify herself publicly when she testifies. ``She\'s requested anonymity and we feel a certain obligation to do everything we can to protect her,\'\' Col. Harry Beans, staff judge advocate at Fort Huachuca, said Monday. ``She came forward and we feel uncomfortable about the prospects of having to reveal her identity publicly since we don\'t feel it will add anything to the case.\'\' Court-martial proceedings began more than a year ago but were adjourned indefinitely Aug. 5 to allow appeal of a ruling that prohibited the Army from using Morris\' AIDS blood test results. According to the Army\'s charges, Morris was routinely tested for AIDS in April 1986 after he reported to duty as a clerk at Fort Huachuca, and was told that the results were positive for exposure to the HIV virus. A midlevel military appellate court reversed Cole last fall, and in March the United States Court of Military Appeals, the highest military court, let that ruling stand. This spring, Morris was demoted from private first class, reportedly for use of marijuana, although officials have refused to disclose the reason for the demotion. Also in the spring, sources said, Morris offered through his lawyers to accept an administrative severance from the Army with a general discharge under honorable conditions. The Army refused. Since court-martial proceedings began against Morris, several other military members have been charged, have entered pleas or have been convicted of AIDS-related charges. They include a soldier at Fort Hood, Texas, who pleaded guilty to charges including disobeying an officer; another at Fort Sill, Okla., who pleaded guilty to aggravated assault; an airman at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, who was convicted of aggravated assault; and a Navy officer acquitted of assault and adultery in a San Francisco case. The Army and Air Force have instituted regulations ordering commanding officers to inform any soldier or airman testing positive for exposure to the AIDS virus that failure to inform all sex partners of the test results and to practice safe sex will bring discharge or prosecution. The Navy instituted a similar legal advisory policy, but it apparently does not require commanding officers to issue a warning, according to a spokesman.\r\n'),(1921,2,'Until last week, 23-year-old Jarl Ginsberg, was an options trader at Drexel Burnham Lambert Inc. But when the company\'s parent filed for bankruptcy court protection in the largest collapse of any Wall Street firm, Ginsberg was forced to consider his alternatives. Getting a master\'s of business administration would give him ``credentials and credibility,\'\' and it would buy him time while the industry limps back on its feet. The shine on the MBA degree, the yuppie ticket to bigger and better things that has been coveted for more than a decade, has yet to tarnish. Despite fresh and massive layoffs on Wall Street, businesspeople and students alike still say the degree makes a difference. Business schools anticipate no drop in applications, though students are shifting their studies away from risky investment banking in favor of consulting and more traditional areas like corporate finance. Many new MBAs have yet to chip away at the loans they took out to foot the degree. A few are considering drastic career changes. One 30-year-old investment banker who graduated from Columbia University\'s business school two years ago owes nearly $25,000 on college loans. But job prospects have dimmed so astonishingly that he is preparing to apply to law schools. ``Career paths within banking are fairly restricted now,\'\' he said, speaking anonymously so he wouldn\'t officially violate his company\'s ``don\'t-talk-to-the-press\'\' policy. ``It\'s time to look beyond banking.\'\' What drove hordes of people to the financial services industry via business school was the promise of financial rewards that practically knew no bounds. Recruiters visiting the Columbia campus a few years back were offering starting salaries of $75,000 and ``the unspoken promise of $250,000 five years out,\'\' one recent grad remembers. Today, financial companies are not even showing up to talk to students, let alone offer them jobs. At New York Univeristy\'s Stern School, ``all companies are cutting back and some are canceling their schedules\'\' to interview for summer internships, said Howard Leifman, assistant director of the school\'s office of career development. At Columbia, director of placement and career services Elizabeth Katsivelos said there haven\'t been any ``excessive cancellations.\'\' But she did note that more students are showing an interest in consulting and manufacturing. In 1986, the go-go days of Wall Street, 31 percent of Columbia\'s MBA grads went to brokerage houses and investment firms. Last year, the number dwindled to 16 percent, and Katsivelos called further declines possible. Some insiders predict only a mere 10 percent of the Drexel people will actually land jobs in financial services in New York. More than 5,000 Drexel employees were expected to lose their jobs. According to a study of recent MBA graduates from the prestigious Wharton School in Philadelphia, those accepting jobs in the Northeast have dropped more than 7 percent, while those moving to the South jumped 56 percent. For those willing to pack it all in and move, many will find themselves trapped by real estate they can\'t readily unload. Cooperative apartments in Brooklyn Heights, which offers a bird\'s-eye view of Wall Street, are either being deeply discounted or taking months to sell. At the peak of the city\'s real estate boom a few years ago, a modest, two-bedroom apartment sold for $225,000 in a less fashionable Brooklyn neighborhood. Local realtors now tell the owners they\'ll have to drop to about $190,000 if they want a quick sale. ``You\'re stuck with property you\'ve paid a lot of money for,\'\' one homeowner complained. For those who do manage to land on their feet, the question becomes just how solid the foundation will be. Do they have any chance of earning their previous salaries? One 28-year-old trader, who earned $100,000-plus at a Wall Street firm, has been unemployed since September. His prospects are even bleaker now that he\'s competing with another few thousand Drexel jobless. Though he received a generous severance package, there\'s only money left to cover living expenses for his family and the mortgage on his designer duplex loft for another eight months. Then, of course, there\'s a certain amount of guilt to be dealt with after riding the wave of greed and materialism. Some of Wall Street\'s unfortunate said they were embarrassed they didn\'t see the end coming. ``I feel responsible for not anticipating things better,\'\' said one.\r\n'),(1922,2,'Four of Wall Street\'s biggest firms said today they had indefinitely suspended a highly profitable computerized method of trading stocks because of widespread criticism that it is causing volatility and destroying investor confidence. The announcements by Salomon Brothers Inc., Morgan Stanley & Co., PaineWebber Inc. and Bear Stearns & Co. came amid an uproar about so-called index-arbitrage program trading and a protracted slump in the stock market since the October crash nearly seven months ago. The firms\' actions came a week after the New York Stock Exchange intensified post-crash limits on program trading, blamed for causing enormous swings in stock prices for reasons unrelated to underlying values. Salomon and Morgan are among the most significant users of the technique, which uses high-volume computers to sell stocks in New York and buy equivalent stock-index futures in Chicago, or vice versa, to profit from fleeting price disparities. Bear Stearns and PaineWebber is considered a smaller user of program trading. Salomon, Morgan and Painewebber said they were suspending the technique as of today for their own accounts although they would continue to do it for customers if requested. Bear Stearns said it had suspended the technique for its own account as well as customer accounts as of last Thursday, but didn\'t publicize it until the other firms made announcements today. ``I think it\'s certainly a move in the right direction,\'\' said Jack Barbanel, head of commodities and financial futures at the New York brokerage Gruntal & Co. ``It\'s meaningul because at least there\'s beginning to be an acknowledgment to the public perception that program trading causes turbulence.\'\' Large numbers of investors have complained to the NYSE and their brokers that program trading has compelled them to get out of stocks because they believe it has made the market more like a gambling casino. Brokers also are growing resentful of the relatively small number of program traders. Moreover, there is a belief in the securities industry that lawmakers will take severe legislative action aimed at restoring investor confidence unless brokerage firms can find ways to reform themselves. ``We have decided to suspend any non-customer-related index arbitrage activity with the goal of furthering the serious analysis of the role of index arbitrage in market volatility,\'\' PaineWebber\'s chairman and chief executive, Donald B. Marron, said in a statement. ``It is our hope that all interest regulators and market participants work together in an objective manner to find an intelligent and mutually acceptable solution to this issue.\'\' John Gutfreund, chairman and chief executive of Salomon, said in a statement that his firm ``will abstain from all domestic stock index propriatary arbitrage for the present time.\'\' ``It is necessary for all to work toward the goal of restoring confidence in and guaranteeing the vibrancy of the marketplace,\'\' he said. Morgan said in a statement that ``the efforts of our industry, the exchanges, the regulators and Congress should be directed towards expanding liquidity, reducing volatility and restoring public confidence in the equity markets.\'\' ``We have no present intention of starting again. That doesn\'t mean we won\'t do it again,\'\' Alan C. Greenberg, Bear Stearns\' chairman and chief executive, said in an answer to a telephone query. ``The profit is greatly overstated. If everybody thinks it\'s so important (to stop), we\'ll give in to it.\'\'\r\n'),(1923,2,'A small boat carrying eight people capsized Monday during a Memorial Day outing, killing six women aboard and a man who tried to rescue them, authorities said. The operator of the boat was able to swim ashore and one person on the craft was rescued, authorities said. The seven bodies were recovered from the 25-acre Lake Tillatoba on Monday night, said authorities, who were unsure how the accident occurred. Yalobusha County Coroner Stanley True identified the victims, all of Coffeville, as Eddie Rounds, 41; Janice Martin, 20; her cousins Anna Martin, 21, and Martin\'s sister, Marlee, 20; Sherry Taylor, 21; Sandra Baker, 24; and Sherry Jenkins, 19. True said the women were passengers in a 16-foot, flat-bottom aluminum boat piloted by Robert Armstrong, also of Coffeville. Armstrong was able to swim ashore after the boat capsized, said True. Rounds drowned when he attempted to help the women, True said. Melvin Pernell, who also was on the boat, was rescued by a fisherman, Armstrong said. The coroner said there were no life jackets on the craft. The boat was designed to hold up to five people, said Deputy Sheriff Homer Melton. The Sheriff\'s Department said rescue workers, including divers, were called to the lake shortly after 4 p.m. Officials said the victims\' bodies were recovered by crews who dragged the lake. The lake is located off Mississippi Highway 330 between the towns of Tillatoba and Coffeeville in north-central Mississippi.\r\n'),(1924,2,'Albanian border guards shot at Albanians trying to flee to Yugoslavia on makeshift rafts, killing at least four of them and wounding others, the Croatian news agency HINA reported. It quoted Yugoslav police as saying Albanians used rafts made of tractor tires and rubber inner tubes to flee to neighboring Yugoslavia across the Bojana river; that 23 men, women and children crossed safely, but that four bodies were found on one raft and a number of refugees were reported wounded. HINA, reporting from the Yugoslav border town of Ulcinj, said Albanian border guards began shooting at the rafts at about 1 a.m. Thursday. A group of 28 Albanians successfully crossed at the same place Tuesday.\r\n'),(1925,2,'A. No, but I do know that we\'re doing a great many things and we also are keeping track of the extent to which the private sector is joining in and helping on this, and this budget is the result of long, long weeks of negotiation with the Democrats and ourselves, and I think that we\'re meeting the problems. Again, I also have to say this _ that sometimes, our budget in programs can reflect another program we\'ve had going, which is a management program, and we have had a team for a considerable period of time now that has been actually investigating the management practices of government programs as compared to the way they\'re done in the private sector. And there are millions and millions of dollars that are being saved so that something that maybe looks smaller does not mean that the people in need are going to get less, it means that we\'re able to provide that with less administrative overhead. When I came here from a governorship, as a governor, I had seen federal programs administered in our state in which it was costing the federal government $2 for every dollar that reached a needy person. This is something we\'ve been trying to change, and we\'ve made some progress in it. Q. Mr. President, just to follow up on the budget, the chairman of your Council of Economic Advisers told us last week that the deficit might have a good side if it forces your successor and Congress to make choices in social programs _ do you _ is that _ do you see a good side to the deficit? A. I have said that I think that there is a great reform that is needed throughout many of those programs, and it is a reform to where we can get these programs to where their goal will be to remove people from dependency and make them independent of government help instead of doing what we\'ve been doing for too many years now, and that is, actually involving them in dependency to the place where they never can get out _ we\'ve made them permanently dependent on government _ and we\'re trying to change that, correct that. Q. Thank you. A. Thank you, Helen. I\'m going to run for it now.\r\n'),(1926,2,'President Bush\'s 1991 defense budget could be cut nearly $6 billion through reductions including Star Wars spending and delaying a plan to put MX nuclear missiles on rail cars, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee said Friday. Sen. Sam Nunn, D-Ga., called for a military budget of $297 billion to $298 billion for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1. Bush wants a $303 billion budget, including an additional $1 billion for the Strategic Defense Initiative, commonly known as Star Wars. ``Assuming SDI is redirected into a coherent and rational research program, I believe it should be funded at roughly the current appropriated level,\'\' Nunn said in a speech on the Senate floor. Congress approved about $3.8 billion for the anti-missile shield in 1990\'s $296 billion defense budget. The SDI total marked the first reduction in the program in six years. Nunn\'s overall budget proposal is about $1.5 billion more than the cut adopted Thursday by the House Budget Committee and some $6 billion higher than the figure suggested by Senate Budget Committee chairman Sen. James Sasser, D-Tenn. ``I think the fight will be to try to keep defense even at the levels I\'m talking about,\'\' Nunn said. He projected defense savings of about $3 billion to $3.5 billion this year from the changes in the strategic programs and between $20 billion and $30 billion over the next five years. Nunn\'s comments on the budget were the first by the powerful chairman of the Armed Services Committee. He is the leading defense expert among conservative Democrats. Elsewhere on Capitol Hill, White House budget director Richard Darman dismissed all Democratic defense proposals and argued that lawmakers\' affection for pet defense project in their districts will prevail over the cuts. ``As it gets much more clear what it means for particular congressmen\'s districts, you\'ll see the political system, independent of defense strategy, start to put a bottom on that defense cut,\'\' Darman said. Nunn called his budget range a ``realistic and responsible target.\'\' He said there should be a delay in placing multiple-warhead MX missiles on railroad cars and criticized the purchase of trains while the Pentagan is still conducting tests. The Bush budget calls for $2.2 billion to put 50 MX missiles on rail cars. Sens. Carl Levin, D-Mich., and James Jeffords, R-Vt., introduced legislation Friday that would cut $1.6 billion of the administration proposal for the MX. That total represents all the procurement and military construction funds in Bush\'s budget for MX. ``The MX rail-garrison funding plan is a classic example of the flawed `buy before you fly\' policy that has cost the country so much money in recent years,\'\' Levin said in a speech on the Senate floor. Nunn reiterated his support for the single-warhead Midgetman missile, but suggested deployment in existing silos with mobile launchers a later option. He repeated his opposition to development of a new short-range nuclear missile in Europe and questioned buying a new Trident submarine each year and Trident D-5 missiles with nuclear warheads in short supply. Nunn reserved comment on the B-2 stealth bomber until after Defense Secretary Dick Cheney briefs members of Congress on the Pentagon\'s review of major aircraft programs. However, Nunn said the B-2 program of 132 planes at a cost of $72 billion ``must be made more affordable.\'\' Nunn called for slashing Bush\'s defense budget authority to $289 billion to $291 billion, about $18 billion less than the president has proposed for fiscal 1991. Because budget authority represents the amount that can be spent over several years _ such as in a long-term contract to purchase warships _ the cut would force reductions in future Pentagon spending plans.\r\n'),(1927,2,'A strike by air traffic controllers demanding better working conditions has shut down all airports in the country. The walkout began Thursday morning and affected international flights by the Salvadoran airline Taca, the Costa Rican national airline Lacsa, the Panamanian airline Copa, Pan American World Airways and the Honduran airline Sahsa. All domestic flights also were affected. The Air Traffic Controllers Union is demanding a salary review, improvements in training and an overhaul of equipment.\r\n'),(1928,2,'The Internal Revenue Service said it is closing a loophole that allowed procrastinating taxpayers to slip out of the country briefly on April 15th and gain an automatic two-month extension on filing their income taxes. The new ruling, announced Monday, is effective for tax forms due next month, and requires taxpayers to be out of the country for at least two weeks, including April 15th, to qualify for the automatic extension. In the past, someone who left the country for just hours or minutes on the 15th was eligible.\r\n'),(1929,2,'The Soviet Union has withdrawn MiG-23 and Tu-16 planes from its base at Cam Ranh Bay in Vietnam, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said Thursday. Cam Ranh Bay, a former American base during the Vietnam War, is the Soviets\' largest foreign base, according to U.S. military sources. As of 1985, a reported 30 ships were based there. A squadron with six to 10 aircraft remains at the field, said spokesman Vadim Perfiliev. He gave no other details. MiG-23s are fighters. Tu-16 Badgers are variously fitted out as bombers and electronic reconnaissance aircraft.\r\n'),(1930,2,'Workers at a third U.S. company were threatening to join a growing strike that has paralyzed Honduras\' only petroleum refinery and the huge Chiquita banana exporter. President Rafael Leonard Callejas, who faces the worst crisis since taking office in January, said in a brief telephone interview Friday that he has appealed to other unions not to expand the walkout. Callejas said he hoped ``there will be a satisfactory resolution\'\' to the growing number of strikes ``for the good of the country.\'\' Leaders representing hundreds of thousands of workers have threatened to call a strike in solidarity with 10,000 employees at Cincinatti-based Chiquita, who walked off the job Thursday demanding their pay of about $15 a day be increased 60 percent. The 4,000 workers at Castle and Cooke, a subsidiary of Standard Fruit of New York, will strike beginning Monday if ``Chiquita Brands doesn\'t accede to its workers\' demands,\'\' said Mauro Gonzalez, president of the Standard Fruit union. Friday, 2,000 workers shut down Texaco Caribbean Inc., Honduras\' only oil refinery in solidarity with the Chiquita walkout, and a company official warned lack of fuel could paralyze the country. ``If there isn\'t a rapid resolution to the strike, Honduras will be out of fuel in three days,\'\' said Manuel Crespo, the head of Texaco. The workers at the three U.S. companies belong to the 70,000-strong National Federation of Workers\' Unions, which has threatened further action. Other labor groups, including the 600,000-member Workers Confederation, have said they will strike if Chiquita refuses to negotiate. Chiquita Brands International Inc. and Standard Fruit control virtually the entire Honduras\' banana industry and bananas are its principal crop export. Formerly called United Brands and, before that, United Fruit, Chiquita has enjoyed a near monopoly on Honduran bananas since 1912, controlling 60 percent of the fruit\'s exports. Although it has waned in recent years, the two banana exporting companies still wield a big influence in this impoverished nation of 4.8 million people whose annual per capita income of $740 is the lowest in the Western Hemisphere after Haiti. Honduras was the first Central American nation to be dubbed a ``banana republic\'\' because of the vast influence of the U.S. fruit companies. Many fear prolonged labor unrest could destabilize the country, one of the United States\' closest allies in Central America. Chiquita\'s employees average $15.32 a day and their last raise was in 1984, even though Honduras has suffered annual inflation of about 50 percent since then. Renee Ayestas, head of the Chiquita union, said the company notified a presidential commission, trying to find a solution to the dispute, that it is willing to start negotiations beginning this afternoon. But the report could not be immediately confirmed. No company spokesmen were available for comment when Ayestas made the announcement in a telephone interview Friday night. Texaco has a complete monopoly of Honduras\' petroleum industry. It controls all 100 service stations, refines 8,000 of the 12,000 barrels a month the nation consumes, and imports the rest already refined.\r\n'),(1931,2,'President Reagan marked the fifth anniversary of his plan for a Star Wars missile defense system on Wednesday by asserting that the high-tech program is an incentive to U.S.-Soviet arms control efforts. In a written statement issued the same day he announced a date for his fourth summit with Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev, Reagan lauded the missile shield proposal, known formally as the Strategic Defense Initiative, as ``vital to our future security.\'\' ``We must recognize that we live in an imperfect, often violent world, one in which ballistic missile technology is proliferating despite our efforts to prevent this,\'\' Reagan said. ``We would be doing a grave and dangerous disservice to future generations if we assumed that national leaders everywhere, for all time, will be both peaceful and rational.\'\' The president warned, as he has many times, that the Soviets ``not only are ahead of us in ballistic missiles, but also are deeply engaged in their own SDI-like program. If they are allowed to keep their near-monopoly in defenses, we will be left without an effective means to protect our cherished freedoms in the future.\'\' The president announced his proposal for the missile shield defense program on March 23, 1983. ``I put forward the vision of ... a future free from the threat of the most dangerous weapon mankind has invented: fast-flying ballistic missiles,\'\' Reagan recalled in his statement. Reagan, who has staunchly defended the plan despite Soviet efforts to curb it and congressional efforts to cut its funding, said it had ``provided a valuable incentive for the Soviets to return to the bargaining table and to negotiate seriously over strategic arms reductions.\'\' ``And as we move toward lower levels of offense, it will be all the more important to have an effective defense,\'\' Reagan argued. The president has repeatedly insisted, however, that he will not use SDI as a bargaining chip in negotiations with the Soviets. Reagan, following an Oval Office meeting with Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze, announced he will go to Moscow from May 29 to June 2 for his fourth meeting with Gorbachev. The highlight of the summitt was intended to be the signing of a treaty to slash the superpowers\' long-range strategic weapons, but Reagan has suggested that the agreement will not be ready due to time limitations. White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said the issue of SDI did not come up in Wednesday\'s meetings between U.S. and Soviet officials at the White House. In his statement, Reagan said the high-tech program now faces problems that ``are largely political.\'\' Congress has cut funds for the program every year, Reagan said, asserting this has put the program ``one to two years\'\' behind schedule. Capitol Hill slashed Reagan\'s 1988 request for the program from $5.6 billion to $3.9 billion. He is seeking $4.6 billion in 1989. In the year\'s first defense spending vote, a House subcommittee decided Wednesday to cut deeply into Reagan\'s budget request for Star Wars, approving $3.7 billion, which would be an increase of only 3 percent over the current Star Wars budget, according to congressional sources speaking on condition of anonymity. The request will later go to the full House Armed Services Committee, and later to the full House.\r\n'),(1932,2,'A Taiwanese air force plane carrying 18 senior military officers crashed near a village today and all the passengers were feared dead. A spokesman for the Defense Ministry said the plane, a personnel transport craft, was taking the officers, including several major generals, to an important meeting when it crashed in Yunlin, a village 150 miles south of Taipei. The air force said the plane was in two parts after plowing into a sugar cane field in the central part of Taiwan. Taiwan\'s official Broadcasting Corp. of China said the aircraft was broken into two following an explosion. A part of the plane fell on the suger cane field and the rest was scattered in small pieces, it said. The Defense Ministry spokesman, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said everyone on board was feared dead. Rescue crews were at the site, the air force said, but so far no survivors have been found.\r\n'),(1933,2,'An off-target 155mm artillery shell landed near reserve soldiers during a training exercise Tuesday and killed five of them and wounded 10, the army command said. It said three of the wounded were badly hurt. Less than three months ago, on April 23, seven Israeli airmen were killed in another training accident when their transport helicopters collided during a flight over the occupied West Bank. The army said in a statement that Tuesday\'s accident occurred when a reserve unit was conducting an exercise involving the capture of a position at a training base in southern Israel. Army officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the base was near Tzeelim in the southern Negev desert, 15 miles from the Egyptian border. Israel radio said the shell was fired by troops training at one section of the base and fell near other soldiers training in a different area. ``According to the information I have, the reason for the accident was human error,\'\' Maj. Gen. Uri Saguy told Israel army radio. Saguy, chief of army ground forces, was at the exercise and ordered an immediate investigation, the army said. One of those wounded, 29-year-old Yair Cohen, told Israel radio from his bed at Soroka Hospital in Beersheba: ``I stepped out of the armored personnel carrier and there was an explosion. ... I was hit in the leg by shrapnel. I felt pain in my leg and saw blood and started running.\'\' Israeli men up to the age of 55 serve up to a month each year on reserve duty after three years of compulsory service starting at age 18. One of those seriously wounded Tuesday was a female instructor.\r\n'),(1934,2,'Sportscaster Howard Cosell drank ``before, during and after telecasts\'\' and once threw up on Don Meredith\'s cowboy boots during ``Monday Night Football,\'\' a former ABC Sports executive says in a forthcoming book. In ``Up Close & Personal: The Inside Story of Network Television Sports,\'\' Jim Spence also calls Cosell ``one of the unhappiest human beings on this planet.\'\' Spence, who worked at ABC for 26 years, was senior vice president of ABC Sports from 1978 until he left the network in 1986. He is now president of a sports production and marketing company. His book, co-written with Dave Diles, will be in bookstores next month. Spence describes Cosell as an insecure, overbearing man who became impossible to work with late in his career. ``He had made millions of dollars, traveled the world, been applauded and honored time and time again. Yet, today, I think he is one of the unhappiest human beings on this planet,\'\' he wrote. Cosell, 70, could not be reached for comment Wednesday. A woman answering the phone at his home said he was visiting his wife at a New York hospital, where she is recovering from surgery. According to Spence, Cosell\'s drinking sometimes became a ``major problem.\'\' During a ``Monday Night Football\'\' telecast from Philadelphia in 1970, he said, Cosell ``got so drunk he couldn\'t pronounce the name of the city he was in without slurring.\'\' Cosell left the booth after throwing up on Meredith, one of his broadcasting partners. At the request of ABC Sports chief Roone Arledge, Spence said, an ABC spokesman told reporters that Cosell became ill after one drink because of a reaction to flu medication he was taking. Spence said Cosell ``again got out of control\'\' during ABC\'s telecast of the 1984 American League playoffs when he kept kept interrupting colleague Al Michaels. Spence said he got a call the next day from Michael\'s agent, who said ``Al had told him that Cosell was drinking heavily and was impossibly argumentative, and that Al could no longer tolerate it.\'\' Cosell\'s relationship with Michaels and other ABC sportscasters reached a low point after he criticized them in his 1985 book, ``I Never Played the Game.\'\' ``We were all sick and tired of his bad-mouthing of everybody and everything,\'\' Spence wrote. Cosell left the network in 1985. In January, he started a nationally-syndicated TV show that recently went off the air.\r\n'),(1935,2,'Switzerland wants to join the 152 countries in the International Monetary Fund, which plays a key role in the world\'s financial system, fund officials said Wednesday. Switzerland, concerned for its traditional neutrality, has been reluctant to join international organizations. In 1982, a government plan to join the fund was postponed after a Swiss voters defeated a proposal to join the United Nations. However, the Swiss government has had close informal relations with the fund. The fund\'s Board of Directors will consider the application, and a fund spokesman said formalities could be completed by the end of the year. All members of the fund also join its sister organization, the World Bank, the biggest source of loans to the Third World. Applications also are pending from Czechoslovakia and Bulgaria; China, Poland, Hungary and Romania already are members. The Soviet Union has said it would like to join, but the Bush administration has objected.\r\n'),(1936,2,'President Bush and Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney said Sunday their nations would begin negotiations on an air pollution agreement this month. The announcement was foreseen a year ago when Bush decided to seek new controls on the sources of acid rain, an issue Canada has been complaining about for a decade. Both houses of Congress have passed different versions of legislation requiring utility smokestacks to reduce extensively emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, the principal raw materials causing acid rain. Environmentalists monitoring the economic summit welcomed the announcement and said it was inevitable. In a session before the summit officially begins Monday, Bush and Mulroney set an informal timetable for talks to begin on an air pollution agreement. William Reilly, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, will meet with his counterpart, Robert de Cotret, in Ottawa, Canada, on July 16, the leaders said. Formal negotiations should begin shortly after that, they said. ``I think this day will be long remembered in the history of our relationship for the significant departure it constitutes from past positions,\'\' Mulroney said. He and other Canadian leaders have been rebuffed in the past in their attempt to prod the United States into curbing pollutants. A White House announcement said the talks with Canada would cover monitoring of emissions, exchange of information and settlement of disputes. Scientists on both sides of the border agree about half the acid rain falling in eastern Canada originates from emissions generated by utilities and smokestacks in the United States. Because of wind patterns, about a quarter of the acid rain falling in the Adirondack Mountains of New York States originates in Canada. Former President Reagan argued that not enough was known to conclude that acid rain was a serious problem; Canada said marine life in as many as 14,000 lakes is in jeopardy. Environmentalists, meanwhile, denounced what they said was the failure of the seven summit nations to live up to the rhetoric of last year\'s meeting in Paris in which they pledged to protect the world\'s environment. The leaders agreed in 1989 to end production of chemicals that destroy the earth\'s protective ozone layer, said George T. Frampton, president of The Wilderness Society. ``The reality is that our forests are being cut just as fast as they were a year ago, Frampton said. ``Carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are being emitted into the atmosphere at just the same high volume, or even greater, than that of a year ago. Population growth and ocean pollution have continued unabated.\'\' An environmental coalition of 150 groups is keeping a scorecard designed to hold governments accountable by publicizing their records, Frampton said. The environmentalists have already ranked the countries attending the summit. West Germany was rated top, followed by France, Britain, Canada, the United States, Japan and Italy. The countries were ranked based on their policies on conserving energy and reducing the threat of global warming; protecting biological diversity such as that found in tropical forests, abating pollution of the oceans, controlling population growth, helping the cleanup of Eastern Europe and helping develoing nations. Germany\'s high score was ``the best of a bad lot,\'\' said Jay Hair, executive vice president of the National Wildlife Federation.\r\n'),(1937,2,'East Germany is about to disappear, to be swallowed up by its rich western neighbor, and the universal enthusiasm of a few months ago has waned. Polls say the vast majority of East Germans favor unification, which is barely a month away. But appearances don\'t always reinforce that conclusion. The ``We are one people\'\' banners that hung from trees, factories and homes during the pro-unity frenzy of early 1990 are gone. There are no cheering crowds and no convoys of motorists blasting their horns in anticipation of full unification on Oct. 3. Reality has set in, especially since the economic merger officially began in July. The issue foremost in the minds of East Germans is how to tackle the huge challenges facing them as their crumbling economy is absorbed by West Germany. Some show a decided lack of eagerness for unity, especially in Leipzig, birthplace of the uprising that ended 40 years of Stalinist rule less than a year ago. ``Maybe the GDR (East Germany) could have survived as a newly democratized country,\'\' said Maria Chudoba, who tends bar at the Cappuccino cafe in Leipzig. ``But now it\'s too late to turn back.\'\' Heinz Weisse, 74, and his 70-year-old wife, Gertrud, loading bales of hay onto a cart outside Weimar, said they wouldn\'t have minded seeing East Germany continue as a democracy. ``We\'re happy about unity, but it was not a necessary development,\'\' said Weisse, a retired hairdresser. ``There\'s a good side and bad side to everything.\'\' He said he and his wife had a relatively good life even under communism and, as pensioners, had been allowed to travel outside the country. ``We had our little house here, and we were born here, so we always came back,\'\' Weisse said. Most East Germans seem to see unification as their only salvation, but have come to realize it will not be an overnight cure for such problems as the high unemployment brought on by the July 1 economic union. ``We had our celebrations last year when the Berlin Wall came down,\'\' said Gisela Oswald, a 63-year-old retired opera singer in Weimar, an East German cultural center. ``We\'re glad unity is coming, but we\'ve got to get to work now on some important problems, like putting the economy in order.\'\' East German cities are decaying, the bottom has dropped out of industrial production and unemployment is soaring. Most of East Germany\'s problems require money in huge amounts. Leipzig has a desperate housing shortage, crumbling public and commercial buildings and an antiquated sewerage system that has become a health hazard. Unification and the resulting West German funds undoubtedly will help solve the economic problems over the next few years, but also will introduce problems new to East Germany. ``Prostitution will come with the joblessness because people need money,\'\' said Peter Fernau, chief of detectives in Bitterfeld, an industrial city. ``We\'re also worried about heroin and the possible appearance of criminal gangs. There will be totally new dimensions to crime.\'\' Several aspects of life will change after unity. West Germany\'s legal system will be extended to the East, bringing in an entirely new code of laws. ``My officers are going to have to learn, learn, learn,\'\' Fernau said. Many East Germans fear West Germans will make all the decisions about their future. A recent poll by the West German magazine Stern indicated 88 percent of East Germans support unification, but 70 percent were disappointed by how it has been managed. The process has been largely orchestrated by Helmut Kohl, West Germany\'s chancellor. With the two Germanys united, East Germans will find themselves in stiff competition with West Germans jobs and business opportunities. They worry about coping. ``We never learned to persist in the face of adversity because, in the old system, that was of no use,\'\' said Ms. Oswald, the opera singer. ``This is something we must learn. ``But we also have many good qualities. We tend to be very close-knit and helpful to each other, and that\'s something we don\'t want to lose,\'\' she said. Peter Heyroth, Lutheran pastor in Bitterfeld, said the way unity has been managed is demoralizing many people. ``They see the trucks rumbling into town at 6 a.m. with goods from West Germany, while goods made in this country go unsold,\'\' he said. ``They see prices climbing, and they feel like their job training was worthless.\'\' In the small city of Saalfeld, on the eastern edge of the Thuringian forest, a former member of the disbanded Communist secret police pondered his future. He has a new job, but things aren\'t going well. ``People hoot at me behind my back,\'\' he said. ``It\'s really very difficult.\'\' ``I was never involved in any heavy intelligence, just checking passports and that kind of thing, but I\'m ashamed of the corrupt government we supported,\'\' said the former agent, who asked that his name not be used. Then, seeming to speak for many East Germans, he said: ``Sure, mistakes were made during the Communist period, but should four decades of our past really be flushed down the sewer?\'\'\r\n'),(1938,2,'Gov. Mario Cuomo today accused lawyers for a black teen-ager who says she was assaulted by six white men of ``making up conditions\'\' as part of their continuing refusal to have the young woman testify about the case. Meanwhile, the teen-ager\'s aunt was quoted today as saying the girl hadn\'t even talked about the case with the lawyers representing her. Tawana Brawley, 16, missing for four days in November, was found wrapped in a plastic garbage bag and covered with feces, with racial insults scrawled on her body. She said she was assaulted by six white men, one of whom flashed a police badge. Miss Brawley, of Wappinger\'s Falls north of New York City, and her family have refused to be questioned further on the advice of attorneys C. Vernon Mason and Alton Maddox Jr. of New York City, the lawyers who used a similar tactic to get a special prosecutor appointed in the Howard Beach manslaughter case. Cuomo had nothing good to say about those lawyers at an impromptu news conference today. ``They said they had reasons they could not cooperate. ... It\'s clear now they don\'t really,\'\' Cuomo said of the two lawyers. ``These conditions obviously don\'t mean anything. They keep making up new conditions.\'\' Maddox and Mason were on the road this morning and not immediately available for comment on Cuomo\'s statements or today\'s report in the Middletown Times Herald Record newspaper that Miss Brawley hadn\'t talked to the lawyers about the case. Cuomo said again today that he was willing to meet with Miss Brawley if it would help push the stalled investigation along. However, he said he would do so only if her lawyers approved and state Attorney General Robert Abrams, Cuomo\'s special prosecutor in the case, said it would be helpful. In her interview with the Middletown newspaper, Juanita Brawley, who helped raise Tawana for eight years and who has spent time with her since her attack, said she is the only one who knows enough about the incident to keep the lawyers and the girl\'s mother informed. ``I know a few things that no one else knows,\'\' she said in an interview at her home. She said of Maddox: ``He has not talked to Tawana. He does not need to talk to Tawana.\'\' She did not elaborate. On Thursday, the Rev. Al Sharpton said the Brawley family would go to jail before testifying before a grand jury empaneled by Abrams. Sharpton, a minister from New York City who has said he is advising the family, said Cuomo is using ``macho politics\'\' in trying to compel Tawana\'s testimony. On Wednesday, Cuomo had called on Abrams to ask a grand jury when it convenes Monday in Poughkeepsie to force Miss Brawley and her family to cooperate with investigators. ``Someone is going to give him a macho award for beating up on a young girl who has already been abused,\'\' Sharpton said of Cuomo. This morning, Cuomo said that whatever happened with the grand jury, he thought it was ``very unlikely\'\' that Tawana would be sent to jail even if she continued her refusal to cooperate with Abrams\' investigation. On Thursday, Cuomo had told New York City radio station WLIB that he can\'t understand why the Brawley family will not cooperate with authorities. ``I see no reason, no common-sense reason, no difficult-to-understand reason, why there is not cooperation,\'\' Cuomo said. ``At one point you have to ask yourself, why aren\'t they cooperating with the prosecutors?\'\'\r\n'),(1939,2,'Mikhail S. Gorbachev moved to take firm control of a watershed Communist Party congress today, fending off a call for his resignation and aggressively defending his reform efforts. The president and party leader seemed to have succeeded in averting a possible challenge to his leadership by hard-liners and the threat of a walkout by radical reformers. ``Voices are being heard that all of our present problems should be blamed on perestroika,\'\' Gorbachev told the delegates to the 28th Soviet Communist Party Congress in a keynote speech. He acknowledged that the party\'s top leaders had made mistakes, especially in ethnic relations where ``we did not see the dangers.\'\' Hundreds of people have been killed in recent waves of ethnic violence in Armenia and Azerbaijan, central Asian cities, and other places. Also, the three Baltic republics are trying to secede. In today\'s speech, though, Gorbachev laid much blame for the nation\'s pressing problems _ including the economic crisis _ on the ``heavy legacy\'\' of previous leaders dating to Josef Stalin. Gorbachev also attacked the Soviet Union\'s vast bureaucracy, saying many functionaries only cared about protecting their own power and privileges. Radical reform is vital, he insisted, because ``the U.S.S.R. is rapidly becoming a second-rate power.\'\' He offered few specifics but said Communists must: _``Stop the brain and talent drain abroad.\'\' _Pass legislation ending the government monopoly on the manufacture of farm machinery ``to provide for an influx of foreign capital in this area.\'\' _Quickly make the Soviet currency convertible on the world market. _Negotiate a new treaty uniting the 15 Soviet republics on a looser basis while preserving the nation. In the days leading up the party congress, it appeared the Soviet leader might face a challenge from hard-liners for the top party leadership post, and that radical reformers might walk out and split the party. But today, Gorbachev seemed successful in his exhortations for unity among party reformers and moderates. Members of the radical Democratic Platform said they had dropped plans to walk out of the congress to form their own party. Also, hard-liners who last month demanded that Gorbachev give up his post as Communist Party general secretary said they planned to support him, although they might use the new policy of openness to criticize some policies. ``Gorbachev must be the party leader,\'\' Soviet Premier Nikolai Ryzhkov told reporters at the congress. Public opinion polls indicate the people\'s trust in the party _ until Gorbachev\'s tenure the country\'s sole political force _ has waned significantly as it fails to cope with mounting discontent. Coal miners have threatened a one-day strike for July 11, a day before the scheduled end of the congress, to protest the failure of the Communist leadership to improve living conditions. The nationally televised opening session was tempestuous, in contrast to previous congresses, which were carefully orchestrated by the party leadership. This time, speaker after speaker rose from the floor to offer resolutions and proposals clearly not on Gorbachev\'s agenda, including a call for the party leadership to resign. Gorbachev, who heads the party as general secretary, did not comment on the demand and the 4,683 delegates approved his proposal to return to the issue later. Conservatives had been threatening for two weeks to try to oust Gorbachev as party chief, but it appeared that threat had diminished. Hard-liner Ivan Polozkov said he would not run against Gorbachev for the top party post. However, Polozkov _ elected last month as leader of the largely conservative Communist Party of the Russian republic _ said he expected Politburo members to explain ``what they see as the way out of the situation that has been created, the loss of direction for which they must answer.\'\' For the first time, the 12 members of the Politburo are scheduled to report to the congress on their work since the last party congress, in 1986. The progressive Democratic Platform demands that the party give up its cells in the police, military, the KGB and in nearly every workplace. It had authorized its estimated 100 delegates to walk out and form a new party if they are not happy with the session. Such a split would have been the first in the party since 1921. But Sergei Stankevich, a leading reformer from Moscow, said the Democratic Platform leaders had decided against the walkout. Gorbachev, who heads the government as president, wants to use the congress to transform what have traditionally been the most powerful Soviet institutions, rewriting party rules that affect all 19 million party members. The proposed changes include replacing the general secretary with a party chairman and first secretary and renaming and expanding the Politburo, thus diluting the power of each member. Other proposals include nominating multiple candidates for party jobs and restricting elected party officials to two terms. Gorbachev wants to strip the party of involvement in day-to-day administration of the government and economy. He seeks to end the party\'s domination of government. His most important proposed rule changes would affect the Central Committee, the party\'s policy-making body and a bastion of conservative holdovers. Politburo member Lev Zaikov has said 90 percent of the 249 Central Committee members should be replaced by younger people. The congress will elect a new Central Committee. Gorbachev had one previous chance to win control of the committee _ at the 1986 congress _ but had been in office just 11 months and lacked the power.\r\n'),(1940,2,'President Bush and Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev on Thursday directed their top diplomatic aides to meet next week to seek a post-summit agreement on the military face of a united Germany. A meeting between Secretary of State James A. Baker III and Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze was set for Tuesday in Copenhagen, after Bush and Gorbachev reached an impasse on whether a new Germany would be a member of NATO. A second June session, in Berlin, was tentatively scheduled for the two aides. Bush and Gorbachev exchanged what the Soviet leader called new approaches, and Marlin Fitzwater, the White House spokesman, said optimistically: ``The ideas presented amount to a way to meld the concerns of the United States and the Soviet Union.\'\' Later, a Bush administration official sought to play down any perception that there had been a breakthrough. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Bush would call West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl within the next day or so ``to reassure him that we have not changed our position\'\' on a united Germany. Bush is determined to secure NATO membership for the new Germany once it is created, while Gorbachev is equally intent on keeping the country out of the Western alliance or at least restricting the size of the German army. ``Both the U.S. side and the Soviet side put forth certain ideas and suggestions\'\' on Thursday, Gorbachev said. He gave no details, but a Soviet official told The Associated Press the Soviets wanted Germany\'s future taken up by the 35-nation European Security Conference. ``I hope that we understand each other\'s concerns better,\'\' Gorbachev said as he left the White House. ``This exchange of views now requires that our foreign ministers have a more in-depth discussion,\'\' he told reporters. ``I think it is not here that the German question will be resolved.\'\'\' Bush said later that ``certainly\'\' was the case. But the U.S. president, who appeared outside the White House shortly after Gorbachev left, added, ``When he said that differences had been narrowed somewhat, I\'m taking some heart from that and we\'ll continue these discussions tomorrow.\'\' ``Fundamental positions have not changed,\'\' he said. Bush offered his own public assurances to Gorbachev that ``we can work together\'\' to reduce East-West tensions on a broad front. The two leaders aired their differences on Germany publicly at a morning arrival ceremony and then privately in the Oval Office. In addition to the Baker-Shevardnadze session in Copenhagen, U.S. officials said Baker also will meet separately in the Danish capital with West German Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher, who has been the point man for the West in trying to work out an accommodation with Moscow. Genscher, for instance, proposed keeping NATO troops out of what is now East Germany after the merger with West Germany. Baker, Shevardnadze and Genscher had all planned to be in Copenhagen to attend a 35-nation conference on human rights. A meeting also had previously been scheduled among the four World War II allies and the two Germanys in Berlin on the subject of Germany\'s future. Gorbachev told reporters in a White House driveway that Bush defended his viewpoint on Germany during their talks. ``I think dictation is unacceptable,\'\' the Soviet leader said, but he did not renew his accusation of the previous day that the United States was indeed trying to dictate to the Soviet Union. Meanwhile, Germany and unrest in the Baltics dominated the meeting Baker held with Shevardnadze at the White House while the two presidents were in the Oval office, U.S. officials said. Just a few blocks away, meanwhile, top-level U.S. and Soviet negotiators held a fifth day of talks on what will be the summit\'s crowning achievements _ a declaration of basic accord to cut long-range nuclear missiles and a pledge to quickly launch negotiations for even deeper reductions once the treaty is finished. But Deputy Soviet Prime Minister Viktor K. Karpov and Under Secretary of State Reginald Bartholomew and their aides evidently were unable to make significant progress in arrangements for the withdrawal of tens of thousands of U.S. and Soviet troops and tanks from Europe. This ``is an area where we will probably not be able to reach specific agreement at this point,\'\' Fitzwater said. Gorbachev has slowed work on this parallel treaty partly out of concern that a strengthened Germany would be enrolled in the Western alliance while his own allies in the Warsaw Pact drift away from the Soviet orbit. U.S. and Soviet negotiators held three rounds of talks Thursday at the State Department. Baker, appearing on ABC-TV\'s ``Good Morning America,\'\' made plain there would be no retreat in the U.S. position. ``All of the Western allies, all of the countries of Western Europe, and, indeed, three countries of the Warsaw Pact, think that this would promote stability in Europe, that it\'s important that that happen,\'\' Baker said. ``So the Soviet Union is, to some extent, alone among the nations involved in this who have a problem with it. So our job is to see if we can better explain it,\'\' Baker said. Bush, in a White House arrival ceremony for the Soviet leader, hailed the impending unification of East Germany with West Germany as a milestone toward ``enduring cooperation in a Europe whole and free.\'\' But mindful of Gorbachev\'s reservations about a more powerful neighbor, the president assured him ``we can work together at this historic moment\'\' to reduce remaining East-West tensions. ``The trenches of the Cold War are disappearing,\'\' Gorbachev said in response. In a thinly veiled reference to his concerns about German unification and U.S. demands that the new country have NATO membership, the Soviet leader recalled the Allies\' victory over Nazism in World War II and, earlier, the defeat of Germany in World War I. Gorbachev then pointedly expressed a hope that ``these horrible wars will forever remain a thing of the past.\'\' There were indications the two sides may be in a mood to compromise. U.S. officials are hinting at negotiations in the future to scale down both the German and Soviet armies in a tradeoff deal between NATO and the Warsaw Pact.\r\n'),(1941,2,'Fitzhugh Green, a retired government official and biographer of President Bush, died of heart problems Wednesday at age 72. He died at Newport Hospital in Rhode Island. After more than 25 years in the federal government, Green resigned in 1970 to run for Congress from Rhode Island as a Republican. After losing, he returned to Washington, working for the Environmental Protection Agency from 1971 to 1977, and again from 1983 to 1985. Green wrote several books, including ``George Bush: An Intimate Portrait\'\' published in 1989.\r\n'),(1942,2,'People victimized by erroneous drug test results frequently face loss of their jobs and few are in a position to defend themselves adequately, Congress has been told. Mark L. Waple, a Fayetteville, N.C., attorney who has handled more than 500 drug test cases in the past six years, said Wednesday that such a person ``loses the presumption of innocence and is instead burdened with a presumption of guilt.\'\' Waple said that in at least 75 percent of his cases, ``there was a significant legal or scientific irregularity which substantially affected the reliability of the ultimate conclusion that the individual had in fact used a controlled substance.\'\' He said his clients have faced threats of incarceration, loss of security clearances and hospital credentials as well as loss of employment, rank and position. Waple told the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on oversight and investigations that the combination of the ``presumption of guilt\'\' and complex legal and scientific issues makes it very difficult for a person to defend against the positive test result. ``Very few individuals who test positive for controlled substances will have a proper background either through experience or education to know where to begin to defend themselves,\'\' he said. ``Drug testing laboratories guard their scientific data, their test results, their mathematical computations and their standard operating procedures very carefully.\'\' He called for ``complete and total disclosure of all of the data supporting a positive test result.\'\'\r\n'),(1943,2,'Gov. George Mickelson told an interviewer he learned of a Nov. 28 incident at the governor\'s mansion from his son. The governor had kept mum for months about the incident, listed on a Nov. 30 Pierre police log as a rape. In an interview broadcast Monday night on television station KELO, Mickelson was asked how he first learned that something had happened Nov. 28. ``My son told me,\'\' Mickelson said. ``Before it came through on the police report?\'\' interviewer Steve Hemmingsen asked. ``Yes,\'\' the governor replied. However, Mickelson said through his press aide today that he misunderstood Hemmingsen\'s question when the interview was tapedin principle announced last Friday by Chicago-based UAL. The formalization of the buyout pact sets into motion the process for United\'s three employee unions to approve wage cuts and other contract concessions designed to save $2 billion over five years as a contribution toward the buyout. Under the agreement reached Friday, UAL\'s 71,000 employees will buy 100 percent of the company by exchanging for each share of UAL stock $155 in cash, $35 in UAL notes and one share in Covia Corp. valued at $11. Covia is the UAL subsidiary that owns United\'s 50 percent interest in the Apollo computerized reservations system. The deal, valued at $201 a share, could take up to eight months to complete. The agreement gives the employees four months to secure financing and another four months to complete the deal. UAL\'s stock was down 25 cents at $160.75 in early trading today on the New York Stock Exchange.\r\n'),(1944,2,'The head of an Arab-American group is condemning a federal prosecutor who said one of eight men accused of illegal pro-Libyan activities was involved in a plot to assassinate a high-level U.S. official. An administration source later identified the target as former National Security Council aide Oliver L. North. The comments by U.S. Attorney Henry Hudson about an assassination plot are ``outrageous ... unsubstantiated allegations which are not even part of the charges in this case,\'\' Abdeen Jabara, president of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, said Thursday. Hudson made the comments Wednesday in Alexandria, Va., in a court appearance by six men charged with violating the U.S. economic boycott of Libya. The men allegedly used money sent from Libya to support pro-Libya demonstrations in the United States and to finance travel to Libya by American minorities. The boycott allows such money to be used only for the educational expenses of Libyan students in the United States. Two other men were charged in the same case, in Denver and Ann Arbor, Mich. During the Alexandria court appearance, Hudson said one of those charged, Mousa Hawamda, ``was involved in a potential plot to assassinate a high government official of the United States.\'\' An administration source, speaking on the condition of anonymity, identified the target as North, who as a National Security Council aide masterminded counterterrorism activities against Libya, including the April 1986 bombing of Tripoli. One of Hawamda\'s attorneys, Russell Gaspar, said in an interview that ``we deny on behalf of Hawamda involvement in any sort of assassination plot.\'\' He said he and Hawamda\'s other attorney, Ray Hanna, would seek to have their client released. All six were detained without bond. Jabara also said his office has received a recent rash of calls from Arab-Americans across the nation who have been harassed by the FBI with unannounced visits to them and their neighbors that were intended to gather information about political views and activities as opposed to criminal activities. Sue Schnitzer, an FBI spokeswoman, had no comment on Jabara\'s remarks. She said information about political views and activities might be sought in investigations involving, for example, foreign counterintelligence or terrorism. But she denied that the bureau would conduct an investigation that was politically motivated.\r\n'),(1945,2,'A Nigerian worker was crushed to death when he was pinned in the doorway of an elevator in the basement of the Transamerica pyramid building, police said. Washington B. Olaye, 32, was attempting to pull a mail cart into the elevator Wednesday morning when ``for no apparent reason\'\' the elevator began moving up, said police Officer Sherman Ackerson. A co-worker, identified as Isiah Sampson, was inside holding the doors open for Olaye, Ackerson said. Both workers were heading to the 18th floor to Montgomery Securities, where they worked. Olaye, standing on the elevator\'s threshhold, was pinned between the elevator and the roof of the basement floor, Ackerson said. Fire Department personnel arrived and pried the door open, but Olaye, who lived in nearby Oakland, was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics. An investigation was being conducted by federal and state worker safety officials and the Otis Elevator Co., the manufacturer. Elevators are not supposed to operate when the doors are open.\r\n'),(1946,2,'The population is growing so fast it threatens to overwhelm the economy, but the Philippine government, demographers and Roman Catholic Church can\'t agree on what to do about it. An official survey conducted in 1988 found the Philippines to be the 14th most populous country in the world and the eighth in Asia. Its population grew from 7.64 million in 1903 to 19 million in 1948, then more than doubled in two decades to 48.1 million in 1980, when the last census was taken, the government report said. A new census is to be taken this month. Official projections put the number of Filipinos at 75 milllion to 80 million in the year 2000, or 10 times the number a century ago. President Corazon Aquino has called for a program to make sure the population increase, now about 2.4 percent a year, will not ``outstrip our other resources and annul what gains we make every year.\'\' Government population-control programs have stalled since the late President Ferdinand E. Marcos fled and Mrs. Aquino gained power in 1986, with strong support from the Catholic hierarchy. Critics say there is little evidence of an effective program or the political will to forge one. Local governments also have been lax because large populations mean more economic aid from Manila. Virtually all birth control programs, such as distribution of condoms, are financed by foreign governments or the United Nations. Population growth has declined from a peak of more than 3 percent annually in the 1950s, but Filipinos still multiply faster than the people of more prosperous nations of Southeast Asia. The rate is a full percentage point above Thailand and about 0.1 percent ahead of Malaysia. Nearly four of 10 Filipinos are under age 15, which strains educational, health and other public services. Officials and demographers say most Filipinos in the rural areas, where nearly 48 percent of the people live, prefer large families to provide cheap farm labor. High infant mortality also encourages having more children. Awareness of birth control methods is more widespread, but the number of couples using them dropped from 45 percent in 1986 to 36 in 1988, according to a survey by the Population Institute at the University of the Philippines. Lack of complete information and the strong male dominance in Philippine society are major reasons women avoid contraceptives, officials say. Despite growing awareness of the risks of overpopulation, critics say there is no consensus of the government, church and demographers on how to avoid it. Mamita Pardo de Tavera, secretary of social welfare and head of the Population Commission, disputes the idea that a large population must be a national burden. She takes a dual approach: educating the public about contraception and encouraging ``population development,\'\' or integration of government aid projects for the poor. Those who disagree say the central task is to reduce the number of births. ``You cannot have development unless you have a more manageable population, in terms of size, growth and composition,\'\' said Corazon Raymundo, director of the university Population Institute. A major factor in the population debate has been the Roman Catholic hierarchy, including Cardinal Jaime Sin, archbishop of Manila, who has great influence in the Aquino administration. ``We believe government should create job opportunities, develop natural resources, harness all these things for the sake of the people who are living now, not take measures to cut down population,\'\' said Monsignor Cesar Pagulayan, spokesman of the Family Life Apostolate of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines. Mercedes Concepcion, former dean of the Population Institute, said the clergy had become aggressive in discouraging use of contraceptives. She said some members of Congress recognize the population problem, but ``have been silenced by the fact that the cardinal has been very active in threatening them with hell fire and brimstone . .. if they do something, particularly in terms of legislation.\'\' ``Since there is no signal from the top,\'\' meaning Mrs. Aquino, ``they know they will be by themselves only, unprotected,\'\' Mrs. Concepcion told an interviewer. The change in government in February 1986 created a new set of policy makers ``who have to be conditioned to the situation,\'\' she said. ``It\'s a massive training again.\'\' Mrs. Pardo de Tavera said the government program had been misunderstood. ``We are a pluralistic society and we have to give people choices, not only in the method but in the approaches,\'\' she said. ``We have to go beyond methods. We have to go to the values, education, other factors besides fertility.\'\'\r\n'),(1947,2,'Hours after three homeless people were evicted from one boarded-up house owned by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, they moved into another unoccupied HUD house, officials said. The three are members of the Union for the Homeless, and HUD spokesman Ken Barnard accused them of seeking publicity. Police evicted Clotilde Lewis, 36, Duwayne Jackson, 39, and Floretta Logan, 27, from the first house Tuesday afternoon. Homeless Union members had helped them break into the home on Saturday. Lewis was handcuffed and taken to a police station when she refused to leave the first house but was released without being charged. Barnard said the three were trespassing in a house bought by a family that planned to move in later in the week. Hours after their eviction, the three settled into a boarded-up four-bedroom house with three kerosene heaters, clothes and hamburgers from a fast-food restaurant. They remained there early today while officials considered whether to arrest them and file trespassing charges, said William Harris, deputy director of the Detroit HUD office. Wayne Pippin, president of the Union for the Homeless, said after the eviction Tuesday that HUD owns many vacant homes and ``should be ashamed to kick someone out of this home, which is needed so badly.\'\' Jackson, unemployed after working at odd jobs, said housing is difficult to find on $150 a month from public assistance. ``This is a major emergency situation,\'\' said Sally Pattee, a group spokeswoman. ``The temporary shelters have been full since July. When people need temporary shelter, they need it now.\'\' Barnard said HUD makes its properties available to the homeless through organizations such as the Detroit Non-profit Housing Coalition. HUD obtains houses when buyers default on government-backed mortgages.\r\n'),(1948,2,'A minor earthquake shook pictures off walls in two central Oklahoma communities early today but experts said there was no connection with a potential major quake on the New Madrid Fault. The Oklahoma Geological Survey said the quake registered 3.6 on the Richter scale of ground movement. A quake of magnitude 3.5 can cause slight damage. A quake of magnitude 2 is the smallest normally felt by humans. The National Weather Service said it had received reports of a tremor about 5:45 a.m. that was felt in Rush Springs, about 40 miles southwest of Oklahoma City, and Lindsay, about 28 miles south of Oklahoma City. The geological survey said the quake was centered 5 miles north of Lindsay. ``Police departments in those areas indicate that pictures fell from walls, objects were knocked off tables and out of cabinets and many residents were awakened,\'\' the weather service said in a statement. Geological survey director Charles Mankin said earthquakes are common in Oklahoma, with a couple a week detected by sensitive seismographs. ``We rarely record them as high as 3.6,\'\' he said. ``But a small earthquake in that area is not unusual.\'\' Larry Thompson of KBLP radio in Lindsay said the station was flooded with calls after the tremor was felt. At the police department, dispatcher Lois Knapp said the shaking lasted about two seconds. ``This police department is cement and brick and rock, and it moved,\'\' she said. There has been increased concern about a Midwestern earthquake since a New Mexico climatologist projected that there could be a major one in early December along the New Madrid Fault, which runs from Cairo, Ill., to Marked Tree, Ark. The projection, based on the fact that tidal forces will be particularly strong early next month, is disputed by most scientists. Mankin said there was no link between today\'s quake and the New Madrid Fault. ``Most of the earthquakes in Oklahoma we have not been able to relate to faults,`` Mankin said. ``They\'re very shallow earthquakes and we know they\'re from some ground adjustment, obviously, but we can\'t relate them to some fault.\'\' In 1811-1812, a series of quakes estimated at up to 8 on the Richter scale struck the New Madrid Fault, ringing church bells in Washington, D.C., more than 850 miles away. Jim Lawson, chief geophysicist at the geological survey, said earlier this week that even if a major quake occurred along the New Madrid Fault, its effect in Oklahoma would be negligible.\r\n'),(1949,2,'For years on TV\'s ``Newhart,\'\' John Voldstad only grinned when introduced by brother Larry as one of the silent Darryls. But he managed recently to get out the words ``I do\'\' and wed 20-year-old Kellye Fowler in Gadsden, Ala. Voldstad, 39, who played the chubby, blond Darryl, met Kellye in August when he was playing tennis in a celebrity tournament in Macon, Ga., and she asked him for an autograph. ``She was spelling Kellye with a ye, and I thought, \'Umm, that\'s very pretty,\'\'\' Voldstad says in the July 2 issue of People magazine. Kellye\'s mom wasn\'t too keen about the romance and _ not trusting those Hollywood types _ went along on most of the couple\'s dates. Kellye, who wants to act, appeared on ``Newhart\'\' as an extra before the show went off the air. But it\'s love, not a career, she wanted from Voldstad, she says: ``I love John and he loves me, and if you can\'t see that you must be blind.\'\' As for their 19-year age difference: ``John\'s 25 mentally anyway,\'\' she shrugs.\r\n'),(1950,2,'There\'s something missing from the carved marble figure of Jim Bowie on the 60-foot shrine to Texas heroes that stands in front of the Alamo. It\'s the tip of his nose. The disfigured face of Bowie, among the best known of the 189 defenders of the Alamo, was discovered Monday when members of a wreath-bearing procession took part in an event known as the Pilgrimage to the Alamo. Repairs are expected to begin in two weeks, after a grandstand is removed from Alamo Plaza, officials say. The solution? Glue. Although vandalism is considered a possibility, officials also say the marble might have flaked off. ``After 50 years, if that\'s the only damage, that\'s not too bad,\'\' said Alamo Curator Emeritus Charles J. Long said. Long, a sculptor and curator of the Pompeo Coppini-Waldine Tauch Studios, where the Cenotaph was made, discovered the damage Feb. 12, while walking by the Alamo on his way to eat lunch at a nearby restaurant. ``I saw his nose was missing as I walked by, and I looked around and found pieces of it on the ground,\'\' Long said. Long informed officials of the San Antonio Parks and Recreation Department and current Alamo Curator Steve Beck, but the damage did not become public knowledge until Monday. ``The tip of the nose is in good shape. It just needs to be glued back on,\'\' Long said. Long said the tip can be glued with ordinary epoxy cement. Marble dust will be mixed with the cement to fill in gaps.\r\n'),(1951,2,'Two men accused of conspiring to break into an Army computer network and the phone system surrendered Tuesday in federal court, but the man the government says was the ringleader remained at large. Silicon Valley computer experts Mark K. Lottor, 25, and Robert E. Gilligan, 31, turned themselves over to authorities before U.S. District Court Magistrate Patricia Trumbull. Lottor and Gilligan entered innocent pleas and were released on $100,000 bond each. They are to return to court next week. Lottor faces five courts and Gilligan six in the government\'s 19-count indictment alleging a scheme to steal military secrets and phone numbers from the FBI investigation of former Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos. Authorities were still searching Tuesday for 24-year-old Kevin L. Poulsen, who is charged in 16 counts. Poulsen faces up to 37 years in prison if convicted. The other two suspects face 20 years each if found guilty of all charges. Lottor works for SRI International and Gilligan works for Sun Microsystems of Mountain View. Poulsen, a former SRI worker who is believed to have fled to Los Angeles after leaving a job with Sun, was an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1984 computer break-in case at the University of California at Los Angeles. Poulsen\'s friend, hacker Ron Austin, was convicted on charges related to the break-in. Authorities said Poulsen used the computer handle ``Dark Dante\'\' at the time. Federal officials contend the latest computer tampering began in 1985 and started to fall apart in February 1988 when police found telephone equipment belonging to Pacific Bell in a storage locker rented by Poulsen. ``As far as techniques, you can see this started out as a burglary,\'\' said FBI Agent William Smith. ``That\'s what we have: burglars who came upon equipment that allowed them to go beyond the common crime of burglary.\'\'\r\n'),(1952,2,'Republican Sen. Dave Durenberger challenged Democratic opponent Hubert H. Humphrey III during a debate Monday night to stop all negative campaign advertising, and Humphrey refused. Durenberger, in his opening statement during the hour-long televised debate at Carleton College here, told Humphrey that Minnesotans don\'t like nasty ads and are turning off to the candidates because of them. ``Tonight I am taking all my commercials off the air that have any reference to you, and I\'m asking you to do the same thing,\'\' Durenberger said. Humphrey, who has trailed Durenberger by more than 10 percentage points in all recent independent polls, said he won\'t stop running advertisements that focus on the 10-year veteran senator\'s record. ``It\'s important for the people of Minnesota to know the record,\'\' Humphrey, the state attorney general, responded during the forum sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Minnesota. ``The people of Minnesota, you\'re going to rehire someone, or you\'re going to hire someone new,\'\' Humphrey said. Durenberger said after the debate that he would respond to Humphrey\'s commercials with paid air time if he has to, but will no longer run ads such as two recent ones that portrayed Humphrey as being soft on crime. Humphrey told reporters, ``Campaigns are on the record ... and I wish this would be a nicer campaign, but frankly his record\'s not very good for Minnesota.\'\' Humphrey focused his attacks on a Senate Ethics Committee investigation into comments Durenberger made to supporters in 1987 that the committee determined had the appearance of leaking sensitive national security information. The committee took no action, but Humphrey said it rebuked Durenberger.\r\n'),(1953,2,'Foreign Minister R.F. Botha apologized on behalf of the government Tuesday for a police search of the West German consul\'s home, but also criticized West Germany\'s policies. Police searched the home of Erhard Loeser, West Germany\'s acting consul-general, on Monday. They were looking for Heinrich Grosskopf, a 24-year-old white South African accused of a car-bombing last week that killed three people. Officials claim Grosskopf carried out that bombing and at least one other on orders from the outlawed African National Congress, the predominantly black guerrilla group fighting to end domination by South Africa\'s white minority. Botha gave no reason why police decided to search Loeser\'s home and coupled his apology with an attack on Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher of West Germany for suggesting a boycott of South African products as a means of protesting the apartheid racial policy. He said the suggestion was ``callously irresponsible\'\' and a boycott would ``deprive people of their livelihood.\'\' The foreign minister also criticized Genscher for questioning the fairness of legal proceedings for the ``Sharpeville Six,\'\' a group of blacks granted a one-month stay of execution last week. They were convicted of complicity in the mob killing of a black official. By law and custom, apartheid establishes a racially segregated society in which South Africa\'s 26 million blacks have no vote in national affairs. The 5 million whites control the economy and maintain separate districts, schools and health services.\r\n'),(1954,2,'Thousands of Nicaraguans, unfamiliar with hurricanes and jaded by repeated warnings of possible U.S. invasions, refused to flee Hurricane Joan\'s deadly path Saturday. The hurricane, with 125 mph winds, destroyed about 90 percent of the buildings in the Caribbean city of Bluefields and slashed through the Corn Islands off the Nicaraguan coast. The two areas have a population of about 68,000. Although thousands were evacuated, thousands of others remained in their homes despite warnings, President Daniel Ortega said in a speech broadcast on radio and television. Initial reports said 15 Nicaraguans were killed Saturday and the overall death toll from the storm that began ravaging the South and Central American coasts last Monday was at least 65 in Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia and Venezuela. The hurricane weakened to a tropical storm, but torrential rains continued and Nicaraguan officials said they would order forced evacuations if need be as the storm struck Managua, 180 miles west of Bluefields. David Zuniga, director of civil defense, angrily called for people to go to shelters. ``Sandinista police and the EPS (the army) have orders to evacuate by force if necessary,\'\' Zuniga said on television. Some who refused to evacuate low-lying ground said they didn\'t believe the government, which has on numerous occasions called on the people to mobilize against a U.S. invasion. ``The people were tired of these calls. They don\'t believe them,\'\' said Ruben Hernandez, who refused to evacuate his home in the Las Torres neighborhood on the edge of Lake Managua. ``The government has told us so many lies that we just don\'t believe them any more,\'\' said a Managua woman who spoke with the condition she not be identified. Others said people didn\'t realize what damage a hurricane could inflict _ the last hurricane to strike Nicaragua was in 1911. Government radio repeatedly issued storm warnings. Ortega said during his address that he had visited Bluefields on Friday and urged people to leave. ``I told the people to leave their homes because it is easier to rebuild your home than to reconstruct your life,\'\' he said. Only a few thousand people left Bluefields in a government evacuation program Friday, although others fled coastal zones. Authorities feared Joan\'s heavy rains could cause more flooding, especially in Managua, which is relatively flat and poorly drained. Thousands of refugees from the seven-year civil war with the U.S.-supported rebels known as Contras have moved into Managuya, swelling its population to 1 million. Many live in wooden shacks beside dirt fields. Civil defense committees piled sand bags in front of many buildings, cut tree limbs that might be blown down and cleared drainage ditches. Windows of the eight-story Hotel Intercontinental were taped over.\r\n'),(1955,2,'The Justice Department says it will sue real estate developer Donald Trump for allegedly violating federal notification provisions in his purchases of stock in Holiday Corp. and Bally Manufacturing Corp. At the request of the Federal Trade Commission, the department said it will file a lawsuit accusing Trump of violating the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act fro Aug. 22 through Nov. 9, 1986 when he bought stock in Memphis, Tenn.-based Holiday without complying with reporting and waiting-period requirements. The suit also will accuse Trump, an operator of hotels and casinos, of violating the act from Nov. 13, 1986 through Jan. 22, 1987 when he bought stock in Bally without complying with the law\'s requirements. Discussions are under way to determine if a settlement can be reached, the department said in a statement issued Tuesday. The act imposes notification and waiting requirements on companies and people over a certain size that are contemplating mergers or purchases of stocks or assets. The law is intended to improve antitrust enforcement by ensuring advance notice to the government of significant mergers and similar transactions. Trump sought control of Bally, a Chicago-based hotel and amusements company, in 1987 but ended the attempt after Bally agreed to buy 2.6 million shares back from him. Holiday disclosed in September 1986, amid unconfirmed takeover rumors, that Trump had purchased between 2 percent and 5 percent of its stock. Holiday later underwent a recapitalization and adopted a ``poison pill\'\' takeover defense to thwart potential suitors. Separately, the Justice Department said it will sue Wickes Companies Inc. of Santa Monica, Calif., accusing the company of violating the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act in its purchase of stock in the Owens-Corning Fiberglass Corp. of Toledo, Ohio in late 1986. But the department will file a proposed consent decree under which Wickes, which sells lumber and other building materials, would pay $300,000 to settle the matter. Sanford C. Sigoloff, Wickes chairman and chief executive officer, issued a statement saying his company did not believe it violated the disclosure requirements but settled the matter to avoid litigation costs. Sigoloff also contended Wickes had filed under the law in connection with the stock purchase and the FTC initially had cleared the filing. ``This settlement involves a long-standing technical dispute between the FTC and the investment community over the use of option agreements under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Rules,\'\' Sigoloff stated. In a third case, the department said it will accuse Roxboro Investments Ltd. and a subsidiary, First City Financial Corp. Ltd., both of Vancouver, British Columbia, and three officers of the companies, with violating the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act. They will be accused based on their purchase in early 1986 of stock in Ashland Oil Inc. of Russell, Ky. The three officers are Samuel Belzberg, president of Roxboro and First City, and Hyman Belzberg and William Belzberg, vice presidents of the two companies. The complaint will accuse the two companies and the three officers of violating the act from Feb. 19 through April 2, 1986 when they bought Ashland stock without complying with some of the law\'s requirements. First City attorneys issued a statement late Tuesday saying they had been discussing a settlement with the department and believed a final agreement would be reached soon.\r\n'),(1956,2,'Mike Mansfield announced his retirement Monday after 11 years as U.S. ambassador to Japan and a public service career that began at age 14, when he lied about his age to enter the Navy during World War I. The 85-year-old former Senate majority leader has worked tirelessly for strong U.S.-Japanese relations, which he described as excellent, with most problems resolved. He said he would leave his post before Jan. 1. Mansfield said he and his wife, Maureen, made the decision together. ``We decided it was time for me to resign, subject to the will of the president, and that has been done,\'\' the Democrat from Montana told reporters at the U.S. Embassy. He said they would divide their time between Washington and his home state, spending winters in Florida. Senior Japanese officials expressed appreciation for Mansfield\'s years of effort for improved relations. ``It is very regrettable that Ambassador Mansfield is resigning,\'\' aides quoted Foreign Minister Sosuke Uno as saying. ``He was a good friend who understands Japan quite well. ``It was truly fortunate that we had a person like Ambassador Mansfield in Tokyo for a long time. ... His warm personality has earned everyone\'s respect and love.\'\' Mansfield set records for length of service with 16 years as Senate majority leader and 11 as ambassador to Japan. The Japanese welcomed his appointment to the Tokyo mission by President Jimmy Carter because of Mansfield\'s prestige in Congress and his belief in the importance of East Asia to the United States. He has called the next century the ``century of the Pacific basin\'\' and often said the relationship with Japan is the most important to Washington, ``bar none.\'\' Speculation arose that Mansfield would retire after coronary bypass surgery in January, but he returned to work in the spring. The ambassador said Monday he and his wife agreed at the time to delay retirement until after major trade issues were resolved and the U.S. presidential election was over. The recent U.S. decision, with Mansfield\'s support, against trying to force the opening of the Japanese rice market at this time helped clear the way for his retirement, he said. Trade problems are the major cause of friction between the United States and Japan but relations generally are in ``excellent shape,\'\' Mansfield said. `In the field of politics and diplomacy we work very well together,\'\' he told the news conference. ``In the field of security, the relationship couldn\'t be better, and in the area of investment things are going very nicely.\'\' Some people both in and outside the U.S. government have criticized Mansfield as being too accommodating toward the Japanese. He says in response that Japanese markets have opened in many ways and Japan has assumed a significant part of the security burden in Asia. He advocates a broad trade agreement to ease friction and the idea is being studied, but is unlikely to materialize soon. Mansfield said Monday he treated the Japanese as he would wish to be treated and they responded in kind. he called the Tokyo years ``the most enjoyable in our lives.\'\' After beginning seven decades of service to the United States with the Navy enlistment at 14, Mansfield served in the Army and the Marine Corps. He was in Asia with the Marines. Before his election to Congress in 1942, he taught Far Eastern and Latin American history at Montana State University in Missoula. The school since has been renamed the University of Montana. In 1944, Mansfield was sent on a foreign policy mission to China at the request of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Before his appointment to Tokyo, he had returned to China several times at the Chinese government\'s invitation.\r\n'),(1957,2,'More than a year after the United States slapped penalty tariffs on Japan for allegedly violating an agreement on semiconductor trade, Japanese officials are stepping up pressure on Washington to remove the penalties before President Reagan leaves office. U.S. officials counter that the Japanese government continues to renege on a pledge to boost the market share of imported U.S. chips. The $300ffs, since reduced to $165 million, were the strongest trade retaliation the United States has taken against Japan since World million in tari War II. ``The problem remains of a lack of market access,\'\' said a senior U.S. trade official, speaking on condition of anonymity. ``There is a certain goal, and the Japanese side is not living up to it.\'\' The Japanese claim sales of American semiconductors here soared 75 percent in the first quarter of this year over the same period last year. ``I don\'t know any people who are so greedy that they\'re not satisfied with a 75 percent increase in one year,\'\' Makoto Kuroda, ex-vice minister of the Ministry of International Trade and Industry, told journalists this month. MITI chief Hajime Tamura has urged U.S. Trade Representative Clayton Yeutter to lift the sanctions before the end of the Reagan admiStates isn\'t in danger of being dethroned as the world\'s soybean king, but the royal attire is a bit ragged. And some other countries that produce oilseed crops stand to make a little profit. Based on Aug. 1 indications, the Agriculture Department estimates the 1988 soybean harvest at 1.47 billion bushels, or 23 percent less than last year\'s production. The yield was put at 26 bushels per acre, compared with 33.7 in 1987. Two years ago, according to USDA economists, soybeans brought farmers an average of $4.78 per bushel. In the 1987-88 marketing year that runs through the end of August, prices are expected to average $6.20 per bushel. Even before the drought was fully developed this summer, it was apparent that the U.S. soybean supply was running low and that demand would boost prices. In June, USDA forecast bean prices in 1988-89 _ the year that will begin on Sept. 1 _ would be in the range of $5.75 to $7.75 per bushel. In July, after the fierce heat and drought spread deep into corn and soybean areas, the USDA upped the price forecast to $6.75 to $9.25 per bushel. The August analysis put the 1988-89 soybean price range at $7.25 to $9.75 per bushel. When the new marketing year begins Sept. 1, the U.S. soybean stockpile is expected to be about 280 million bushels, down from 436 million a year ago. By this time next year, the bean reserve may be 100 million bushels or less, according to the USDA projections. An updated crop report and analysis of the supply-demand situation, along with new price forecasts, will be issued by the department on Sept. 12. Hot, dry weather during the soybean plants\' critical flowering stage since Aug. 1 has caused concern that harvest prospects have continued to decline. Meanwhile, the soybean\'s international importance as an oilseed continues to come under scrutiny by USDA experts. Other sources of vegetable oil and protein meal, such as rapeseed, cottonseed and other crops also are drawing close attention. Overall, based on August indications, the department\'s Foreign Agricultural Service estimated world oilseed production in 1988-89 at 201.4 million metric tons, down 2 percent from the July forecast and also 2 percent below the 1987-88 output. ``Lower production of soybeans in the United States and China because of drought-reduced yields account for most of the decline,\'\' the agency reported. ``Partially offsetting the reductions from last month are a projected 500,000-ton increase in Brazilian soybean production, substantial improvement for India\'s peanut crop and a 403,000-ton rise in U.S. cottonseed output.\'\' The report added: ``High relative prices for soybeans are expected to stimulate area gains (plantings) in Brazil.\'\' Brazil is the second-largest soybean producer and is the biggest competitor of U.S. farmers in world markets. The 1988 U.S. harvest of 1.47 billion bushels translates into about 40.1 million metric tons. There are about 36.7 bushels of beans in a ton. Comparatively, Brazil\'s 1988-89 crop is forecast at 20 million tons, followed by China, 12 million; and Argentina, 11 million. The 12-nation European Economic Community is expected to produce 1.55 million tons of soybeans this season, and Paraguay, 1.2 million. Other countries are expected to produce the remainder. While soybeans are the largest component of the global oilseed production forecast of 201.4 million tons, they still comprise less than half of the total. Other sources include: cottonseed, 33.07 million tons; peanuts, 22 million; sunflowerseed, 21.23 million; rapeseed, 21.49 million; flaxseed, 2 million; copra, 4.73 million; and palm kernel 2.85 million. Because they are in the Southern Hemisphere and thus on a different calendar cycle for growing seasons, Latin American producers are finding the U.S. drought is affecting their plans. ``In an effort to capitalize on higher prices before the U.S. harvest in 1989, Brazil and Argentina are forecast to increase their exports of soybeans,\'\' the report said. Brazil is expected to export 3.9 million tons of soybeans in 1988-89, up from 2.7 million last season, and Argentina\'s shipments are forecast at 3.2 million tons, up from 2.4 million in 1987-88. But the higher prices are dampening the demand for soybean imports in some major markets, the report said. The Soviet Union, for example, is expected to reduce bean imports in 1988-89 to 1.5 million tons, down 17 percent from this season. The Soviets are also expected to reduce imports of soybean meal to 2.7 million tons, down 100,000 tons from this year. The major U.S. foreign market for soybeans is the European Economic Community, and the higher prices are expected to reduce shipments to 11.2 million tons in 1988-89, down 1.9 million tons from this year, the report said. However, U.S. sales of soybean meal are forecast to rise slightly from 13 million tons in 1987-88.\r\n'),(1958,2,'Eating Well, a national consumer magazine on food and health, offered its first issue in July. ``Our intention,\'\' says publisher James M. Lawrence, ``is for this to be a magazine that one reads out of fascination and pleasure, not guilt. We think it should appeal to men and women with an uncommon curiosity about and love of good food, inspiring them to try new foods and new recipes, to strive for nutritional wellness without sacrificing the sensual pleasures of cooking and eating well.\'\' The first issue featured ``Something Fishy at the Seafood Counter,\'\' a look at the seafood industry. _ Reader\'s Digest launched the ``American Medical Association Home Medical Library\'\' this summer as part of a planned 18-volume series concerning health and medicine. Each volume will treat a different topic _ diagnosing disease, the heart, nutrition, drugs and the battle against infection _ and will be sold by direct mail. The first in the series is ``Practical Family Health.\'\' _ The complexities of filing claims for health care coverage can be bewildering for many, and they may not collect what they\'re entitled to, says the owner of a service to help patients or their relatives sort out claims paperwork. ``When a claimant is ill, paperwork is the last thing on his mind.\'\' says Serena Kalker, who started Medical Claims Assistance Co. in Brooklyn, N.Y., when she discovered that many clients of her husband\'s accounting firm were overwhelmed by the claims process. ``Many claimants just give up. So they pay huge medical bills. Meanwhile, the funds which are intended to reimburse them _ coverage they have paid for and to which they are entitled _ go uncollected.\'\' She says her service, with fees based on a percentage of recoveries, helps consumers avoid ``unexpected traps\'\' that can cost them money through lost or unqualified claims. ``We try to make sure that the individual doesn\'t cheat himself by filing overlapping claims that allow insurors to sidestep their responsibilities,\'\' she says. _ You\'re not goofing off. You\'re resting your eyes when you stare off into space, says the American Optometric Association. And it\'s a good idea to take a staring break for 10 minutes every hour or two you\'re occupied with eye-intensive activities such as using a computer, reading, watching television or playing video games. The association also advises using eye safety equipment for sports such as tennis, softball, or baseball or for home projects like cleaning and gardening. Also recommended are maximum protection sunglasses that block 75 to 90 percent of the light, which can help prevent cataracts and damage to the inside lining of the eye. Other eye protection tips include keeping room lighting soft but using lamps for reading, sewing, preparing food and other projects. Task lighting should be no more than three times brighter than the general room light. And cut room lighting in half for computer areas. _ Protect your ears, too. Noise is one of the biggest culprits in premature hearing loss, but you can take some simple measures to minimize it, according to the E-A-R Group of Cabot Corp., which makes soft foam earplugs and other protective devices. Close windows when noisy construction work is going on in your neighborhood. Don\'t sit too closely to the speakers at amplified concerts. Keep stereos and television volume at a reasonable level. These tips and other information, including warning signs of hearing loss, are in their booklet, ``A Helpful Guide to Ear Protection.\'\' For a copy, write the company at 5457 West 79th Street, Indianapolis Ind. 46268. _ Many Americans are totally edentulous and a growing number are trying osseointegration. In plain language, that means 42 percent of Americans over 65 are without teeth, and many are opting for oral implant surgery rather than conventional dentures. According to a national survey conducted by the American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons, the use of oral implants has almost tripled in the past five years and is expected to climb. Difficulties in denture retention and chewing were the most important reasons patients chose implant surgery, the study found. Other reasons included mouth irritation from dentures, inadequate support from existing teeth for bridgework, and difficulty in speaking. Most of the maxillofacial surgeons surveyed said they have performed implant surgery on patients as young as the mid-20s. ``These findings show that missing teeth are not unique to the older population,\'\' says Dr. Gerald Laboda, the association president. ``In appearance, form and stability, oral implants are the closest thing modern science has to natural teeth. Oral implants bond to the existing bone structure of the mouth, thus eliminating the instability, chewing difficulty and irritation many denture wearers endure.\'\' _ Barnyard chores, such as feeding chickens and playing with pygmy goats, are being used in therapy programs for head-injured patients. ``Animal therapy offers a unique method ot treatment because it uses a living, responsive stimulus in treating the physically and mentally impaired,\'\' says Dr. James Wasco, medical director of the New Medico Head Injury System, a nationwide network of rehabilitation facilities. ``Techniques used for the elderly and neglected children are now being expanded for head-injured individuals.\'\' The barnyard program is used at the organization\'s Lindale, Texas, facility, while equestrian therapy programs help head-injured patients at facilities in Center Ossipee, N.H., and Canonsburg, Pa. Riding horses and petting and caring for them are both offered in the therapy. ``For both children and adults, caring for an animal increases self-confidence because the individual is responsible for the animal\'s well-being,\'\' Wasco notes.\r\n'),(1959,2,'The phrasing of a question and answer in a sex knowledge survey released Wednesday by the Kinsey Institute, and reported by The Associated Press, may have been misleading. The true-false question stated, ``There are over-the-counter spermicides people can buy at the drugstore that will kill the AIDS virus.\'\' The correct answer given was ``True.\'\' That does not mean the spermicides will cure AIDS, the Kinsey report says. Instead, many health care professionals say using the spermicides along with a condom may help protect against transmission of the AIDS virus during sexual intercourse, the report says. The spermicides include an ingredient called nonoxynol-9 that can kill the AIDS virus in the test tube, the report says. June Reinisch, director of the Kinsey Institute, said, ``It is very likely to work in people.\'\'\r\n'),(1960,2,'It\'s too early to tell how NBC\'s 179 hours of prime-time Summer Olympics coverage will score in the ratings, but the first three nights started far off the ratings record set by the 1984 games on ABC. Nevertheless, the first three nights of coverage did land in the top 10 in the Nielsens last week, the final week of the broadcast year. Sunday night\'s Olympics coverage was No. 2 among all prime-time shows, according to the A.C. Nielsen Co., with a rating of 17.7 and a 30 share. Saturday\'s coverage came in ninth, with a rating of 16.1 and a 31 share. The opening ceremonies Friday ranked 10th, with a 15.2 and 29. The rating is a percentage of the nation\'s estimated 88.6 million households with televisions. The share is a percentage of sets in use. The 1984 games averaged a 23.5 rating. People meters, the new viewer-measuring devices that have shown overall lower numbers for network shows, combined with a decline in network viewing may contribute to a depression in Olympics ratings this year. The first three nights of the Olympics averaged about a 30 share, somewhat lower than the third of the viewing audience NBC had predicted. NBC analyst Jeff Boehme said it was too early to tell if there\'s a trend in the Olympics ratings. Monday night\'s Olympics broadcast continued to score disappointingly in the ratings, though it won the night for NBC. The coverage during prime time rated 18.0 with a 28 share. CBS had a 14.5 for the night, and ABC a 12.9. CBS effectively programmed against the Olympics on Sunday night with a repeat of the Valerie Bertinelli movie ``Rockabye\'\' that ranked fourth in the Nielsens. CBS also scored with its timely ``48 Hours\'\' on the approach of Hurricane Gilbert, getting the highest rating yet for the weekly news program. It ranked 12th with a 14.1 rating and 24 share. NBC won the week ending Sept. 18 with an average rating of 14.0. CBS and ABC tied with 11.5 each. The week marked the 52nd since the 1987-88 fall season began, so NBC claimed its fourth broadcast-year win in a row with an average rating of 14.5. Although CBS finished third for the regular season that ended in April, based on yearlong figures, CBS edged ABC for the broadcast year with an average rating of 12.2 to ABC\'s 12.1. The top 10 shows last week were: ``A Different World\'\' NBC, ``Summer Olympics _ Sunday\'\' NBC, ``The Cosby Show\'\' NBC, ``Rockabye\'\' CBS, ``Monday Night Football\'\' ABC, ``60 Minutes\'\' CBS, ``Barbara Walters\'\' ABC, ``Murder, She Wrote\'\' CBS, ``Summer Olympics _ Saturday\'\' and ``Summer Olympics _ Opening\'\' NBC. The lowest-rated prime-time shows of the week were: ``Live! Dick Clark Presents,\'\' ``The Flintstones _ Just Say No,\'\' ``The `Slap\' Maxwell Story,\'\' ``Cowboy Joe,\'\' ``California Girls Special,\'\' ``Lily Tomlin _ Sold Out,\'\' ``West 57th,\'\' ``Live from the Hard Rock Cafe,\'\' ``Space _ Beyond the Shuttle\'\' and ``Decision \'88 Countdown.\'\' Despite a move to a half-hour earlier in New York, where its ratings dropped, the ``CBS Evening News\'\' rebounded into first place in the national news ratings after tying with ABC\'s ``World News Tonight\'\' the previous week. The news race last week continued to be a virtual dead heat, with less than a point separating the three network newscasts. CBS had a 10.8 rating and 22 share, ABC had 10.3 and 21, and ``NBC Nightly News\'\' had a rating of 10.1 and a 20 share.\r\n'),(1961,2,'When Bertrand Blier develops a screenplay, he writes with specific people in mind. Since the French filmmaker\'s stories are usually a little crazy, he wants his actors the same way. ``I need an interesting starting point,\'\' said the director of the certifiably insane ``Too Beautiful for You\'\' (``Trop Belle Pour Toi\'\'), which won the Jury\'s Special Prize last summer at Cannes, and ``Get Out Your Handkerchiefs\'\' (``Preparez Vos Mouchoirs\'\'), winner in 1978 of the Academy Award for best foreign film. ``To have the movie start with something crazy, you need the sort of actors that are crazy enough themselves to make it credible,\'\' he said. Good actors, the director insists, are a little deranged, like his friend Gerard Depardieu, the star of ``Too Beautiful for You\'\' and ``Get Out Your Handkerchiefs\'\' as well as Blier\'s ``Menage\'\' and ``Cold Cuts\'\' (``Buffet Froid\'\'). They met in 1973, when Blier was casting for ``Going Places\'\' (``Les Valseuses\'\') and Depardieu was an unknown actor. ``I was a little hesitant to hire him because that was a very important charatcer in the film,\'\' Blier recalled. ``For six months, every day, Depardieu would come to the office with a different costume on to convince me he could play different characters. One day, he was very funny. The next day he was sad and distraught. It\'s extraordinary.\'\' Depardieu got the part and Blier gave him the chance to make good on the promise of his extended audition _ to do anything. In ``Get Out Your Handkerchiefs,\'\' Depardieu decides his unhappy wife needs a lover and recruits a total stranger for the job _ in the middle of a restaurant. In ``Cold Cuts,\'\' he plays an unemployed man who accosts a stranger in a subway station and rants about his dreams of murder. In ``Menage,\'\' he is a thief who again inflicts himself on total strangers and takes over their lives. The films are in the spirit of those screwball comedies of the 1930s, such as ``My Man Godfrey\'\' and ``The Thin Man.\'\' Timing is essential, quick enough to make audiences laugh, but not so fast that the story loses believability. And no matter how warped the humor gets, the actors have to play it straight. ``Each film is like a game,\'\' Blier explained. ``With each new movie you have to set your rules and you have to explain your rules to the public if you want them to be able to play with you.\'\' He admires American director Billy Wilder, who depended on actors such as Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau to hustle along the story. Blier says Depardieu is ideal for that kind of comedy because he\'s quicker than other actors. ``The entire movie just goes a lot faster,\'\' Blier said. ``Even in a love scene, everything goes very fast. The other actors, even the very good ones, they tend to listen to what they\'re saying, contemplate themselves. He doesn\'t do that.\'\' With ``Too Beautiful for You,\'\' imagine ``She-Devil\'\' with the husband abandoning Meryl Streep and running off with Roseanne Barr. Depardieu is a respectable upper-class family man who falls in love with his homely secretary (Josiane Balasko) while spurning his beautiful wife (Carole Bouquet). Blier noted that ``Too Beautiful for You\'\' was harder to shoot than his earlier films because there was less action and more emphasis on affairs of the heart. Deparidieu, reluctantly, had to slow down. ``Depardieu was feeling rather uneasy when they were shooting the movie because he was under the impression that he had nothing to do. He likes to act, he prefers to act. He\'s always looking at the women and doing nothing. When he wanted to do something, I said, `No, don\'t move, only look.\'\'\' Blier, the son of actor Bernard Blier, was born in 1939 in Paris. Through his father, Blier met French directors Henri-Georges Clouzot and Jacques Becker and soon decided he wanted to make films, too. ``I was 15, 16, and it came to my mind that that was the only profession for me,\'\' Blier said. ``It\'s the only profession where you take yourself for God, pretend you\'re God for a while.\'\' His first commandment remains ``Thou Shalt Be Insane,\'\' and no exceptions are allowed. One poor actor was even banished for signs of excessive normal behavior. ``The first scene of `Buffet Froid\' was very difficult for me because I shot the scene with another actor, who was not Michel Serrault, and it was a disaster,\'\' Blier said. ``I called Michel Serrault and he came for two nights to shoot his scene. Only Michel Serrault was crazy enough for the beginning of this film. I can\'t work with actors who are not like that.\'\'\r\n'),(1962,2,'Lawmakers who say they were double-crossed by a presidential veto are promising to revive legislation that would protect federal workers exposing government fraud and waste. Howls of bipartisan outrage were generated Thursday after congressional sponsors learned that President Reagan won\'t sign the legislation that his Office of Management and Budget agreed in writing to support. This is hardly the first time that a presidential veto has stirred controversy in Congress, but the reaction was harsher this time because Democrats and Republicans accused the administration of breaking its word. Lawmakers said they relied on letters to sponsors by the deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget, Joseph R. Wright Jr., expressing the administration\'s backing of the legislation. Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., the chief Senate sponsor, said the measure will be introduced again when Congress reconvenes early next year. Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, echoed the statement. Reagan, who said the version passed by Congress went too far in protecting workers, said he will submit his own bill in January before leaving office. But the 418-0 House vote and unanimous voice vote in the Senate for the congressional version make it unlikely that a Reagan alternative would prevail. Attorney General Dick Thornburgh raised constitutional objections to the bill, which was designed to protect federal ``whistleblowers\'\' from retaliation by their superiors. The attorney general persuaded Reagan on Wednesday to ``pocket veto\'\' the legislation _ let it die while Congress is out of session. Thornburgh told reporters Thursday that ``no one is entitled to the protection of unconstitutional legislation.\'\' He contended that the Justice Department consistently expressed constitutional worries to lawmakers and never signed off on the compromise that passed Congress. Asked if Wright had approval to deal with Congress on the legislation, Thornburgh replied, ``I don\'t know.\'\' It was unclear whether OMB and Justice Department officials knew they were pulling in opposite directions, but congressional staffers said they assumed Wright checked with other agencies before writing of the administration\'s support. OMB spokeswoman Barbara Clay declined to discuss an apparent internal rift, saying only, ``The decision has been made by the president and we support the decision.\'\' Lawmakers didn\'t buy Thornburgh\'s explanation that his department expressed its unhappiness with the bill to Congress during ``any number of exchanges.\'\' ``It\'s outrageous conduct and has created a bipartisan explosion, because it violates the basic understanding we need but now no longer have ... that an administration\'s word is good,\'\' said Levin. ``There\'s going to be bipartisan hell to pay.\'\' Rep. Frank Horton of New York, the chief Republican House sponsor, said he backed the measure ``only when I was assured of the administration\'s support.\'\' Horton called Reagan\'s decision ``a reprehensible act ... orchestrated after adjournment of the Congress to prevent an override.\'\' Grassley said the administration had ``signed off\'\' on the bill before Thornburgh stepped in. ``We worked with the administration far too closely for Thornburgh and company to now suggest there are unresolved constitutional questions. ... But then this administration hasn\'t exactly a sterling record where whistleblowers are concerned.\'\' Chief House sponsor Patricia Schroeder, D-Colo., said, ``In 1981 President Reagan promised to protect employees who blow the whistle on wrongdoing; now we know how cheap the president\'s words are.\'\' Reagan said Wednesday the bill would have allowed employees ``who are not genuine whistleblowers\'\' to manipulate the process to delay or avoid proper discipline. ``I regret that the Congress did not present me with constitutional and effective legislation to expand the protections and procedural rights afforded to federal employees who report fraud, waste and abuse they discover in federal programs,\'\' the president said in a statement. ``The interests of both employees and managers should be fully protected,\'\' the president said. Sponsors said the whistleblower bill was needed because the Office of Special Counsel, established to represent the interests of whistleblowers, was not doing its job. The bill was designed to reverse decisions of courts and the Merit Systems Protection Board, a federal judicial agency, that made it difficult for whistleblowers to win their cases. The bill would have made the Office of Special Counsel an independent agency and would have defined its role clearly as one of protecting whistleblowers. The office now is part of the Merit Systems Protection Board and at times it has acted against whistleblowers who came to the office for help.\r\n'),(1963,2,'The Senate Ethics Committee today opened politically-charged hearings into links between five senators and the owner of a failed savings and loan and the panel\'s chairman bluntly told the lawmakers that many people believe ``you sold your office.\'\' Four of the so-called Keating Five looked on as Sen. Howell Heflin said, ``many of our fellow citizens apparently believe that your services were bought by Charles Keating, that you were bribed, that you sold your office, that you traded your honor and your good names for contributions and other benefits.\'\' Sens. John McCain, a Republican from Arizona, and Democrats John Glenn of Ohio, Donald W. Riegle Jr. of Michigan and Dennis DeConcini of Arizona each listened intently as Heflin spoke in his gravely Southern accent. Sen. Alan Cranston, D-Calif., who is undergoing prostate cancer treatment, did not attend. All five deny any wrongdoing. Committee counsel Robert Bennett jostled a boxed puzzle before the committee members as he began his opening statement, saying he would provide them with a picture that later pieces of evidence would fill in. Bennett said Cranston, DeConcini and Riegle ``were important players\'\' in helping Keating in his ``all-out war\'\' with federal regulators. He said McCain and Glenn played lesser roles. Bennett said he did not contend it was improper for the senators to hold meetings with federal regulators, but that it was up to the panel to decide whether their actions were improper. He said ``there can be no doubt\'\' that the intent of each of the five senators was to help Keating when they met with federal regulators in 1987. The five senators received a total of $1.3 million in campaign contributions or donations to their favored causes from Keating and his associates. All contacted federal regulators on behalf of Keating at a time when the government was considering whether to seize the Lincoln Savings and Loan Association, an Irvine, Calif.-based thrift institution. The thrift later collapsed at an estimated cost to the taxpayers of $2 billion. Heflin told the five they would have the chance to say whether the donations ``influenced your actions in any way.\'\' He said lawmakers\' activities legitimately include helping their constituents and overseeing government institutions and added that there is room for disagreement about conclusions in the case. Bennett said the evidence will be clear despite the refusal of Keating to answer questions during the Senate inquiry. Keating has been indicted in California on state securities fraud charges and is awaiting trial. ``One could ask the question, `If Mr. Keating were here, would you believe what he had to say anyway?\'\'\' Bennett said. The five senators have become a symbol of the massive savings industry collapse, and the outcome of the ethics hearings could intensify the political ramifications of what so far has been a bipartisan scandal. In addition, the case has highlighted a political system that gives lawmakers great latitude in contacting federal regulators on behalf of constituents, at the same time they are dependent on campaign contributions to mount their political campaigns. The hearings stemmed from a complaint last year by the citizens group Common Cause. ``It\'s not just the five senators but the whole Senate whose integrity and credibility is on the line,\'\' said Fred Werthheimer, the organization\'s leader. Heflin and others on the panel said the case should not create a standard that bars members of Congress from intervening with federal agencies on behalf of constituents or campaign contributors. ``A standard of conduct which would preclude members of Congress from intervening on behalf of individuals who happened to have contributed to or raised funds for their campaign is nonsensical and unworkable under existing law,\'\' said Sen. Warren Rudman, R-N.H. Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., another member of the committee, complained that panel has taken too long with the case. ``We should have already taken certain ... actions,\'\' he said. Heflin, D-Ala., defended the panel\'s decision to hold the hearings against charges of partisanship. ``On all the votes taken by the committee ... not one was divided along partisan lines,\'\' he said. With documents stacked several inches high on a table covered with green felt, Heflin framed the issue that the ethics panel will have to grapple with: ``The allegation in this case, that an individual used his wealth to get preferential treatment from government officials in the performance of their official duties, raises questions which are as old as history, and issues that bear on the balance of power among the branches of the federal government. The committee could vote to rebuke any of the five or recommend a more serious punishment to the full Senate. Each senator has denied any connection between Keating\'s money and their meetings with regulators. The basic issue is whether any violated Senate rules against exerting improper influence in return for compensation. All except Riegle attended an April 2, 1987, meeting with Ed Gray, then the top thrift regulator. All five attended another meeting a week later with San Francisco-based bank examiners who revealed that potential criminal actions by Lincoln were involved. McCain\'s top aide, Chris Koch, said McCain would make the case that he ended his friendship with Keating on March 24, 1987, when Keating asked the senator to negotiate with regulators on his behalf. ``There\'s no smoking gun on Don Riegle,\'\' the Michigan senator\'s lawyer, Thomas Green, said before the hearing. He contended that Riegle\'s meeting with regulators was unrelated to a fund-raising effort Keating directed for Riegle. DeConcini wrote a letter to about 5,000 supporters this week denying wrongdoing. ``You may hear derogatory statements about me and my office, but I can assure you that I have not betrayed my public trust, nor do I intend to be intimidated from assisting constituents in their dealings with our government,\'\' DeConcini said. Glenn has said in the past that he had no discussions on behalf of Lincoln after the 1987 meeting when regulators said criminal charges were possible. Cranston\'s spokesman, Murray Flander, said Cranston contends, ``I pocketed no money, I broke no law, I violated no Senate rule. Those are undisputed facts.\'\'\r\n'),(1964,2,'Police said they believe arsonists were responsible for a fire that damaged a door at the consular and cultural section of the Algerian Embassy in London. Scotland Yard said in a statement that the fire extensively damaged the door at the building at Hyde Park Gate in the center of London. The consular and cultural section is about a mile from the main embassy building at Holland Park. The brief Scotland Yard statement gave no indication whether the blaze Monday night was linked with the current wave of violence in Algeria over austerity measures. Embassy staff could not be contacted as the building was closed for the night. The Scotland Yard statement gave no indication how the fire was started. In Algeria on Monday, soldiers with machine guns fired into a crowd of more than 10,000 in the Bab-el-Oued district of the capital Algiers and eyewitnesses said they killed at least 25 people and injured dozens more. Algerian President Chadli Bendjedid in a nationwide address Monday night promised reforms to end the week-long revolt over economic policies. He defended his declared state of emergency and said he would ``not allow the country to fall into anarchy.\'\' Bendjedid has been the main advocate of an economic austerity program aimed at forcing Algeria to live within its means in the face of falling oil and gas prices.\r\n'),(1965,2,'People in other countries have invested $1.5 trillion in the United States and withdrawals could bring a recession, a former top Treasury official says. C. Fred Bergsten, who now heads the Institute for International Economics, a study group financed largely by the West German Marshall Fund, issued the warning on Wednesday. Bergsten said the investment by other countries in the United States is in private hands. ``Some of it\'s in the form of plant and equipment _ that\'s not going to come out rapidly,\'\' he told the House Budget Committee. ``But close to a trillion dollars of it is liquid, and about half a trillion has come in just the last five years to finance our massive trade deficits. ``On future occasions, if foreigners withdrew money, the effect on interest rates, our economy, the exchange rate, could be much more dramatic.\'\' It has happened before, he said. ``The last time the dollar fell sharply _ I happen to remember painfully because I was in the Treasury at the time _ was in the late 1970s,\'\' he added. He was then assistant secretary of the Treasury for international affairs. He recalled that the United States had to borrow about twice the amount of its trade deficit because foreigners were withdrawing money at the same time. ``If we got anything like that magnitude now, we\'d have to find a way to borrow $300 billion from foreign officials or somewhere to keep our books in balance,\'\' he said. ``That could only be done at prices that would bring the whole economy to a shuddering halt.\'\' He said the most enduring legacy of the Reagan administration would be the conversion of the United States from the world\'s biggest creditor country to the biggest debtor. Current foreign borrowing by the U.S. government is about $150 billion a year. ``At the end of 1987, our net international debt stood at about $400 billion, more than the external red ink of the next three largest debtors _ Canada, Brazil and Mexico _ combined,\'\' he said. ``Under the most optimistic adjustment scenario, that number will rise to $750 billion before it could possibly level off, and a more likely outcome is much closer to $1 trillion.\'\' Bergsten said the United States needs to shift its annual international trade balance by about $200 billion, more than the current deficit, because the additional cost of interest on the foreign debt will be close to $50 billion by the early 1990s. It would be reasonable to try to reach this target in four or five years, he said. He said it can be done only by cutting the federal budget deficit by $150 to $200 billion in the same period. He added that unless these cuts can be made, the value of the dollar against other currencies could easily fall by another 20 percent or 30 percent.\r\n'),(1966,2,'The army is sending an anti-terrorism unit to Medellin, center of Colombia\'s drug trade, to halt assassinations of police by drug lords, the defense minister said in statements published Friday. Police said four more policemen were murdered Thursday on the streets of Medellin, Colombia\'s second-largest city. Their deaths bring to 123 the number of Medellin law officers murdered this year. Also Thursday, police said they arrested a drug trafficking suspect in Bogota wanted for trial in the United States. Julion Enrique Rojas, 49, has been accused by a Florida court of cocaine distribution and illegal possession of arms, judicial police spokeswoman Omayra Patino said by telephone. Defense Minister Oscar Botero said in a statement the army is sending its Mobile Brigade to Medellin to reinforce the city\'s 4,000-member police force. In less than six months, authorities have been forced to send an additional 1,300 troops to the city in the face of an unprecedented campaign of bombings and assassinations by the powerful Medellin cocaine cartel. Last week the army dispatched 350 more soldiers to Medellin from the elite Rifle Battalion. In a statement sent to the Medellin daily newspaper El Colombiano, Botero admitted that so far efforts to halt the violence have been insufficient. ``Social solidarity and national unity are what is needed to regain peace and harmony among Colombians,\'\' Botero wrote to the publisher of El Colombiano, which has harshly criticized the government\'s attempts to bring law and order to Medellin. Police Thursday began a new anti-drug crackdown in the city, stepping up detentions, searches and street patrols. In a 24-hour period, security forces arrested at least 86 people suspected of involvement in assassinations of policemen, the radio networks RCN and Caracol reported Friday, citing police sources. A judicial police report said the Medellin cartel is offering $4,300 to anyone who kills a policeman. Botero said that aside from troop reinforcements, authorities are installing a new helicopter base in Medellin to be used in the fight against the drug-related violence. The drug war began in August 1989 after drug lords assassinated a presidential candidate. Since then, the government has extradited 14 drug suspects to the United States, killed Medellin cartel leader Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha, and confiscated hundreds of properties belonging to the cocaine magnates. They have responded with a bombing and terror campaign.\r\n'),(1967,2,'The emerging Bush administration includes prominent holdovers from the Reagan years, but with one clear and important difference: The new team is tilted far more toward pragmatists than ideologues. Bush filled three more key positions Monday and his choices were sure to set off cries of anguish from the right. Dick Thornburgh will remain attorney general and Lauro Cavazos will stay on as education secretary. Both men were late-comers to the Reagan administration and both replaced leading ideologues, Edwin Meese III and William Bennett. The third Bush choice was Richard Darman to serve as director of the Office of Management and Budget. ``He\'s put together an Eastern establishment Republican administration,\'\' said conservative activist Richard Viguerie. ``That\'s discouraging.\'\' High-profile jobs in the next administration are rapidly being filled, and only one Bush choice has drawn applause from conservatives _ Gov. John Sununu of New Hampshire who will serve as White House chief of staff. The voting machines had hardly stopped humming with Bush\'s 40-state Election Day victory when the president-elect made the most obvious choice for his new administration _ friend, adviser and campaign chairman James A. Baker III to succeed George Shultz as secretary of state. During his tenure as White House chief of staff Baker earned a reputation as a quintessential pragmatist, a savvy insider who repeatedly gave low priority to the initiatives of the more ideological elements in the Reagan administration. Calls on Reagan to fire Baker were always sure applause lines at conservative gatherings. Baker\'s deputy was Darman. Quick to follow the Baker selection was that of another old Bush friend and adviser, Nicholas Brady. He will remain treasury secretary. In fact, another characteristic of the Bush appointees is how many have long-standing ties to the president-elect. When Ronald Reagan was filling out his administration eight years ago, he was meeting many of the top officials for the first time. The same was true of Democrat Jimmy Carter in 1976. Not so with Bush. His relationships with the people he has appointed goes back many years. That should not be surprising, considering the years Bush has served in governmental and party posts. The long resume he touted during the presidential campaign put him in close contact with other up-and-coming Republicans. No one ever described Bush as an ideologue and, clearly, the people he feels most comfortable with are as pragmatic as he. It\'s always tough to get the jump on a new president and name his Cabinet for him. But so far there have been no big surprises, no choices from other than the names subject to the most speculation. The names being mentioned for the remaining national security jobs are former Texas Sen. John Tower for Defense and Brent Scowcroft for national security adviser or CIA director. Scowcroft was national security adviser to President Ford and is an establishment figure. One conservative favorite whose name is frequently mentioned for a Cabinet post is former New York Rep. Jack Kemp. But Kemp is most often mentioned as either Labor or Housing secretary, the two areas where he is least-stringently ideological. The former Buffalo congressman has always enjoyed good relations with traditionally Democratic unions and his major urban initiative is a proposal for enterprise zones to encourage businesses to locate in neighborhoods with high unemployment. Neither post would make Kemp a major player in areas where his more ideological views on monetary and tax policy would have influence. Bush may yet come up with some appointees who will please hard-line conservatives, but there is no sign of a Bennett, a James Watt or a Donald Hodel waiting in the wings.\r\n'),(1968,2,'NATO\'s top military commander in Europe says he welcomes the new conventional arms accord, but that he\'s concerned some Soviet weaponry already removed from Eastern Europe won\'t be destroyed under the treaty. The treaty does not take effect until its signing, scheduled for Monday in Paris. Moscow has said it has already moved 20,000 tanks, 24,000 artillery pieces and 800 aircraft to east of the Ural Mountains, out of the treaty area between those mountains and the Atlantic. ``They are a concern to me,\'\' U.S. General John Galvin said Friday. ``They are not in an offensive deployment (but that does) not take away my worries,\'\' Galvin, NATO\'s top commander in Europe, told reporters. But he and other NATO officials welcomed the Conventional Forces in Europe accord, finalized by negotiators from the 16 NATO and six Warsaw Pact nations on Thursday, as a political and military milestone. One official said Moscow ``is aware of our concerns\'\' that arms, subject to be removed under the CFE treaty, do not remain operational east of the Urals. ``We have been given assurances\'\' this will not happen, said the official, who asked not to be named. He said North Atlantic Treaty Organization will remain ``vigilant\'\' and monitor the situation. NATO officials say the Soviet arms already transferred to east of the Ural Mountains are in unprotected storage and bound to deteriorate. The CFE treaty is to be signed Monday by the leaders of the NATO and Warsaw Pact nations in Paris in the margin of a 34-nation East-West summit. Only days later, the NATO and Warsaw Pact states will open talks on a follow-up accord on troop levels across Europe. The CFE treaty will bring about, over three years, a 40 percent cut in battle tanks, armored cars, artillery, combat planes and assault helicopters. In all, 100,000 such items are to go - 90,000 on the Warsaw Pact side, mostly the Soviet Union, and 10,000 on NATO\'s - leaving 250,000 such arms systems in place overall. The CFE treaty provides for verification of efforts to destroy weapons to ensure each alliance will end up with no more than 20,000 tanks, 30,000 armored cars, 20,000 artillery pieces, 6,800 combat aircraft and 2,000 attack helicopters within the treaty area.\r\n'),(1969,2,'The stock market remained broadly lower this afternoon in heavy selling sparked by the Middle East turmoil and resulting oil price surge. Severe setbacks in foreign financial centers had set the stage for a panicky day on Wall Street. The Dow Jones average of 30 blue chips was off 79.20 points at 2,730.45 by 3 p.m. on Wall Street, an improvement from the morning\'s 100-plus-point loss. Declining issues held a huge lead over advances on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,514 down, 239 up and 247 unchanged. Trading activity slowed slightly from Friday\'s unusually brisk pace. But volume on the floor of the Big Board still came to a heavy 207.13 million shares with two hours left to go. The NYSE\'s composite index of all its listed common stocks fell 5.13 to 183.69. Meanwhile, at the American Stock Exchange the market value index lost 6.06 to 340.57. NYSE spokesman Richard Torrenzano told reporters the nation\'s biggest stock market was weathering the session with no problems. ``Circuit breakers\'\' designed to cushion market declines were tripped by early activity in stocks and stock index futures. He said the mechanisms were working without a hitch and appeared to have steadied the volatile market. In Washington, a Securities and Exchange Commission spokesman had no comment while a spokeman at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission said the agency was monitoring the situation. U.S. stocks, already battered by concerns about U.S. economic health, have been hurt by speculation that sharply higher oil prices could trigger a recession accompanied by rising inflation. A few stocks, particularly oil and related issues, benefited from the situation. But a plea from the White House for oil companies to resist hiking prices tempered the rally. Exxon added &rsqb; to 53{, Texaco rose } to 65&rsqb;, Chevron gained | to 79&rsqb;, Mobil moved up 1 to 67~ and Amoco added { to 58. The most Big Board issue was Philip Morris, which lost 1~ to 44| as more than 3.2 million shares changed hands. Among other heavily traded blue chips, International Business Machines slid 2~ to 104, American Telephone & Telegraph skidded 1{ to 34{, American Express pulled back 1| to 26&lsqb; and General Electric lost 3{ to 66\\. UAL plunged 10 to 112{ after a published report indicated a proposed employee-led buyout has run into possible new difficulty. Market watchers had expected stocks to encounter rough going. Worries about the economic impact of the Persian Gulf crisis and resulting oil price spiral had caused investors to bail out of stocks in a big way earlier in Tokyo, London and elsewhere. But market analysts expected stocks to stabilize at the current lower levels.\r\n'),(1970,2,'An era in which even the size of a kitchen knife was once decided by foreign military powers is coming to an end in Berlin, the last occupied city of World War II. The Soviet Union\'s agreement to gradually remove its troops from East Germany and allow a united Germany to join NATO effectively eliminates the last major barriers to unification. It also marks the virtual end of the control the four World War II Allies _ the United States, Britain, France and the Soviet Union _ have exerted over Germany since they conquered and divided it four decades ago. Nowhere is the influence of the war more evident than in Berlin, which could become the capital of a unified Germany but still is technically under military occupation. The Four Powers have said they will relinquish their rights to Berlin immediately upon unification, which is expected in early December. While West Germany was shaped into a democracy and East Germany became a model of Soviet-style communism, the capital of the old German empire was given special status under the Four Powers Agreement after the war. Britain, France and the United States remain the supreme authority in West Berlin and can, if necessary, control the telephone and mail services and police department. West Berlin is governed by a senate that must clear matters concerning security, foreign affairs and police questions with the Allies. In practice, the Allies have permitted city authorities to govern virtually on their own for many years. Hundreds of West Berlin ordinances enacted by the Allies after World War II are still on the books, but most of these laws are not enforced. An Allied committee, advised by the city, has been meeting for the past six years to throw out many of the outmoded laws. Last year, it repealed the Allied-ordered death penalty that had been on the books in West Berlin. West Germany has never had capital punishment. In the mid-1980s, the committee repealed a law that forbid West Berliners from owning kitchen knives longer than 12 inches _ another relic from the postwar years when household knives were regarded as potential weapons. As an enclave city 110 miles inside East German territory, West Berlin is linked to the West by air corridors and autobahns. The Four Powers still control the airways to Berlin, and only their airlines can fly to the city. Even the West German airline, Lufthansa, cannot land in Berlin. But this will change once the city becomes part of a unified Germany. West Berliners are exempt from serving in the West German armed forces, and young men will likely become eligible for the draft once the city passes into the German government sphere. This would effectively end West Berlin\'s popularity as a haven for draft dodgers from West Germany. The Allies\' postwar rights can still occasionally rankle. The Berliner Morgenpost newspaper reported Tuesday that the Allies had rejected a local government proposal to require visas for East Europeans who now can travel freely to West Berlin. But Biddy Brett Rooks, spokeswoman for the British military government, called the report ``absolutely false\'\' and said the Allies had made no decision on the visa requirement. Ansgar Voessing, a spokesman for the Christian Democrat delegation in the city senate, said East bloc residents need a visa to go to West Germany, but none to travel to West Berlin. He cited that as an example of how the Four Powers Agreement has led to a ``clear inequality\'\' in laws. East Berlin was named the capital of Communist East Germany, an action never recognized by the Western allies. In East Berlin, the Soviet Union exercised little direct administrative control over the city because of the iron-fisted rule of its surrogate, East Germany\'s Communist government, and the presence of 380,000 Soviet troops in East Germany. ``The mayor had no power whatsoever. His sole function was to follow party directives,\'\' said Klaus Haetzel, spokesman for the East Berlin city council. The West German democratic constitution is as much a product of the Allies as the status of Berlin. Its system of 11 states, the nation\'s laws against extremism, were all drafted by the victors. In the long term, the only vestige of the war after German unification would be the Allied troops and their nuclear arsenals stationed in the country under the NATO alliance. Now that the Soviets have agreed to end their military presence on German territory in three or four years, the Western allies may be asked to withdraw some of their troops and weapons from West Germany. Demands for the removal of NATO nuclear weapons in West Germany could be the next step, according to Klaus Becher, a foreign policy analyst in Bonn. ``The West German populace favors the removal of nuclear weapons, at least offensive weapons,\'\' Becher said. ``Almost all political forces in Germany are especially sensitive to this.\'\'\r\n'),(1971,2,'A protest within sight of the Kremlin on Monday produced passionate debate on Mikhail S. Gorbachev\'s reforms by bystanders and several dozen Jews seeking to emigrate. In a gathering that police had difficulty controlling, at least 100 people stopped along Kalinin Prospekt, a major avenue leading to the Kremlin, to watch the refusenik protest and to argue their views about Gorbachev\'s effort to rebuild Soviet society. Despite constant appeals by police using bullhorns to stop blocking the walkway next to the Lenin Library, the refuseniks and onlookers argued in small groups under a hot late afternoon sun. Dozens of others pressed around to hear, oblivious to the police. There was no violence, and the demonstrators, who were among those not invited to a meeting with President Reagan at the U.S. ambassador\'s residence, left after about an hour. ``This is a country that it\'s impossible to leave, like a prison,\'\' said 50-year-old Moscow resident Aaron Greenberg, responding to an elderly man who said the United States observed human rights no better than the Soviet Union. Greenberg said he has been waiting five years for permission to emigrate, but that officials claim he had access to state secrets in a postal job he held 25 years ago. Another bystander who identified himself as Georgy Gusev held up a piece of white paper on which he had drawn a Star of David and a swastika. ``Zionism is fascism,\'\' he said, citing Israeli occupation of Arab territory. But pressed by angry refuseniks, he said he thought that anyone who wanted to leave the Soviet Union should be free to do so. Other bystanders shouted that the protest was hurting Gorbachev during his meetings with Reagan. One woman who stopped by blamed the refuseniks\' problems on bureaucrats whom Gorbachev has been unable to clean out of the Soviet system. ``The bureaucrats all stay in place, and while they are in place on top there won\'t be perestroika below,\'\' said Zoya Urisheva. ``If everything was in order, we wouldn\'t have a refusal problem.\'\' Vladimir Meshkov, a Moscow Jew who said he has been refused permission to leave for seven years, shouted ``Let us go to Israel\'\' a half-dozen times as the demonstration ended and police began escorting the last of the protesters to a nearby train entrance. Meshkov, his wife Lida and three and his family held signs during the protest claiming, ``Refusal is a form of murder.\'\' He said he had been beaten severely twice this year during demonstrations. ``They are really trying to kill us,\'\' he said. Yuri Semyonovsky, who said he has been refused permission to emigrate for two years, said said of the meetings between Reagan and Gorbachev, ``we expect there will be progress but we don\'t know how deep it will be.\'\' One of the protesters added, ``I expect maybe Mr. Reagan will challenge Mr. Gorbachev\'s idea of democracy, as a leader of a really democratic country.\'\' Others held banners calling for a ``World without missiles or refusals,\'\' asking the United States for asylum, and proclaiming themselves prisoners of the KGB secret police and the Soviet visa office. Avi Weiss, head of the Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry and the National Center for Russian Jewry of New York, stopped to talk to the protesters after he and five others conducted a protest for 18 minutes on Red Square earlier in the afternoon. He said the group ``insisted Gorbachev free all our people,\'\' and demanded that the United States make trade with the Soviet Union depended on the Soviet human rights policy. The demonstration broke up without incident, he said.\r\n'),(1972,2,'Scientists say they see exciting potential for the world\'s first high-temperature superconducting transistor in the development more advanced supercomputers, microwave components and other electronics. The new transistor was developed at the University of Wisconsin and Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, N.M., and operates at a relatively high temperature of minus 340 degrees Fahrenheit, the scientists said Monday. While superconductive compounds that function at similarly high temperatures have been known for years, the transistor marks the first successful attempt to use such materials to create a transistor. The Department of Energy also backed the project, which now has advanced to the installation of the transistor into a functioning electronic circuit. Transistors, often the size of pinheads, function in supercomputers and other electronic devices as the switches that control current. They also are used to amplify signals from devices ranging from stereos to satellites. Superconductivity, the loss of all resistance to electrical current, occurs in dozens of materials when they are chilled to minus 452 degrees Fahrenheit, or close to absolute zero. Devices that become superconductive at higher, more easily achievable temperatures would allow more practical applications and could open the way to faster supercomputers, microwave components and other electronics products. The new transistor is etched in a thin film of thalium and superconducting copper oxide and is chilled to the temperature of liquid nitrogen. While you still ``can\'t keep it in your shirt pocket,\'\' it gives scientists more flexibility because it operates at a higher temperature, said electrical engineering Professor James B. Beyer, who directed the project along with Professor James E. Nordman and university graduate Jon Martens. The new transistor intrigues scientists partly because it functions far differently from conventional transistors. Conventional transistors use alteration in the voltage to control current. The new transistor uses changes in the current to control voltage. Ken Frazier, a Sandia spokeesman, said the new transistor may serve as a bridge between circuitry that functions at room temperature and circuitry being developed using superconductivity close to absolute zero. But Nordman cautioned that scientists are still studying the new transistor and are far fro determining its applications. ``The transistor was invented in 1948, and we\'ve been learning about it ever since,\'\' he said.\r\n'),(1973,2,'President Corazon Aquino praised U.S. officials Saturday for indicting Ferdinand Marcos on racketeering charges and said that could deter dictators from robbing the people and seeking asylum abroad. Mrs. Aquino also said that former President Marcos\' trial in the United States would hasten recovery of his `hidden wealth\'\' _ billions of dollars her administration claims Marcos obtained during his 20-year rule. Marcos and his wife Imelda, who have lived in Hawaii since he was ousted in February 1986, were indicted in New York Friday on charges that could send them to jail for 20 years if found guilty. They were charged along with eight associates. The United States alleges that Marcos and his wife embezzled at least $103 million in government funds including U.S. aid and funneled the money to secret bank accounts in Switzerland, the United States and other countries. The couple then allegedly used the money to buy valuable New York properties, the indictment says. ``This (indictment) is certainly welcome news in the Philippines and I commend this evident commitment to the rule of law abroad,\'\' Mrs. Aquino said in a statement read by her press secretary, Teodoro Benigno. ``I hope that this and other similar efforts undertaken in other countries to investigate the crimes of the Marcoses will lead to the early recovery of the stolen assets that rightfully belong to the Filipino people,\'\' the statement added. ``Significantly, also, the fact that the Marcoses are being brought to justice will serve as a powerful deterrent to all those who believe themselves above the law and those who would abuse the public trust for private gain.\'\' Mrs. Aquino\'s government has accused the Marcoses of stealing up to $10 billion in public and private assets during his rule and hiding the wealth in real estate, shares of stock, works of art, jewelry and bank accounts around the world. News reports on the indictment came too late for Manila\'s newspapers Saturday but most bannered reports from the previous day that the Marcoses were about to be criminally charged. Political commentator Belinda Aquino _ no relation to the president _ said in a front-page article in the Philippine Daily Inquirer it was ironic that Marcos was being prosecuted for violating U.S. laws and not for crimes committed in the Philippines. ``But what does it matter?\'\' she said. ``The important thing is that the law has caught up with this rascal at last.\'\' Officials said Marcos\' trial in the United States would delay his prosecution here even further, but noted the U.S. trial could result in the recovery of some of the ``ill-gotten wealth.\'\' Although it has repeatedly said it will file criminal charges against Marcos, the Aquino government has not done so for fear Marcos would insist on returning to defend himself. The constitution forbids trial in absentia.\r\n'),(1974,2,'Four advocates for homeless rights were arrested Tuesday night when they refused to leave the Capitol Hill office of Rep. Joseph Kennedy. The two men and two women, charged with unlawful entry, were among eight Boston homeless-rights advocates who staged an all-day sit-in at the Massachusetts Democrat\'s office in an attempt to force the congressman to endorse a $20 billion housing bill. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., would provide 7.5 million units of affordable housing. It rivals Kennedy\'s proposed Community Housing Partnership Act, which would allocate $500 million in federal matching funds to non-profit affordable housing projects. After meeting with Kennedy in his office, eight demonstrators said they would stay put until the congressman pledged to support Frank\'s bill. The group had been protesting inside Kennedy\'s office since 11 a.m. and four refused to leave when asked by the congressman\'s staff, said Capitol police officer Dan Nichols. Nichols said they are scheduled to be arraigned in D.C. Superior Court on Wednesday. They face a possible $500 fine and@or up to six months in prison. Jim Stewart, an organizer for the protesters, had said earlier the group of constituents, four of whom are homeless, traveled to the Capitol in hopes of ``putting momentum behind the Frank bill\'\' by lobbying members of the Massachusetts congressional delegation. ``The least we can do is risk arrest here until we convince Joe it\'s the right thing to do,\'\' he said, adding that Kennedy\'s housing bill is ``inadequate to the need\'\' of the homeless. Aides to Kennedy, who is a member of the housing and community development subcommittee, said the congressman has reservations about the Frank bill because it is too expensive and does not clearly spell out how the money is to be used. ``Joe just feels there\'s a better bill out there,\'\' said Chuck McDermott, a Kennedy aide, adding that Kennedy also supports other measures that would provide for construction and rehabilitation of public housing.\r\n'),(1975,2,'The Nikkei Stock Average closed at 27,866.36 points, down 180.39 points, on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Monday.\r\n'),(1976,2,'Arab Banking Corp., Bahrain\'s largest offshore bank, said it was setting aside its entire 1989 profit of $132 million to cover potential loan losses. ABC, which is owned by the governments of Kuwait, Libya and Abu Dhabi, said Sunday the addition to its loan-loss reserve was needed to reassure investors because the bank is planning a $250-million share offering to boost its capital by 25 percent. Troubles with the bank\'s Latin American loan portfolio helped cause interest income to fall 14 percent to $327 million in 1989 from $380 million in 1988. The drop largely reflected non-payment of interest by Brazil and Argentina, said Abdullah Saudi, the bank\'s president and chief executive. The drop in interest income was offset in part by an increase in fees and commissions, which rose 30 percent to $179 million last year from $138 million in 1988. Operating profit before taxes, minority items and loan loss provisions fell to $184 million in 1989 from $239 million. Saudi said the addition to reserves would boost the bank\'s provisions for doubtful loans to about 40 percent of its loan portfolio. Saudi said the $250-million share issue planned for the first half of this year will be listed in the Bahrain, Kuwait and Luxembourg stock exchanges. Funds raised through the share issue will go in part toward the setting up of a new ABC European subsidiary, Saudi said. The new company, provisionally named ABC Europe, will take care of ABC branches in Paris, Milan and London. It is likely to be based in London. Saudi said he hoped the bank also would expand in the Arab world.\r\n'),(1977,2,'Thanksgiving is still a couple of weeks off, but now is the time to start planning the meal, especially if turkey will be on the menu. The giant bird finds its way onto American tables most often during the holiday season and many cooks deal with these fowls only rarely. That prompts the U.S. Department of Agriculture to issue annual reminders about safe preparation and handling of turkey. Frozen turkeys can be bought now and stored in the freezer until a few days before needed, then placed in the refrigerator to thaw. If you don\'t want them taking up all that space, order a fresh turkey ahead of time and pick it up the day before Thanksgiving. Many stores are offering fresh, pre-stuffed turkeys. These may be time savers, but the Agriculture Department doesn\'t recommend them. The stuffing can create incubator-like conditions for the growth of bacteria, and it is nearly impossible for most refrigerators to keep the stuffing deep inside at 40 degrees Fahreiheit or below. The ultimate shortcut is a pre-cooked turkey, but these must also be handled carefully. They are best is served immediately, both from a safety and flavor standpoint. If a pre-cooked turkey must be stored, remove the stuffing, separate the meat from the carcass, and store these items in small packages in the refrigerator. One safe way to save cooking time is to use roasting bags, the department says, since they speed up the process. Cooking the turkey unstuffed also saves time. Microwaves can cook turkeys quickly, but the department warns cooks not to try to microwave a stuffed turkey; a stuffed bird is too dense for microwaving to assure thorough cooking. Often folks wind up with a frozen turkey bought too late to let it sit and defrost in the refrigerator for several days. The department suggests, as an alternative method, immersing the bird in cold water which is changed every half-hour or so. Make sure the bird\'s wrapping is secure or put it in a plastic bag before placing it in the water. A microwave oven can also be used to thaw an unstuffed turkey, if the oven is large enough. Follow the manufacturer\'s instructions. Never defrost a turkey on the counter or table top. In the hours it takes for it to thaw bacteria could muiltiply to dangerous levels. And remember when preparing food, use pleney of soap and hot water to wash hands, utensils and cutting boards to prevent the spread of bacteria. Wash the sink, counter, faucet handles, anything that comes in direct or indirect contact with raw turkey. Some recipes in recent years have suggested long, slow cooking for turkeys, but food safety experts frown on this because the bird may not get hot enough to kill bacteria. Cook it at 325 degrees Fahreiheit, they say. The food experts also discourage the idea of partly cooking a bird one day and finishing it the next, for the same reason. Once you\'ve gotten over all these hurdles, cooked the bird, fed the family and cleaned up, the department has suggestions for safe storage of leftovers too. Here\'s the drill: Remove the stuffing from the bird and the meat from the carcass. Store them in meal-size portions in shallow containers. Leftover turkey will keep in the refrigerator for three or four days. Stuffing and gravey should be used in a day or two. Bring leftover gravey to a rolling boil before serving.\r\n'),(1978,2,'Interest rates on new one-year, adjustable-rate mortgages surged to the highest level in nine months this week while fixed-rate mortgages jumped almost to the high point for the year, according to a nationwide survey released Friday. The Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp., a government-chartered company owned by savings institutions and known as Freddie Mac, said the one-year, adjustable-rate mortgages this week averaged 8.00 percent, up from 7.90 percent the week before. It was the highest since rates averaged 8.11 percent the week ending Nov. 6. Thirty-year, fixed-rate mortgages jumped to 10.57 percent from 10.44 percent the previous week. That was just slightly below the high for the year so far _ 10.58 percent _ the average for the weeks ending May 27 and June 3. The jump in rates this week followed a move Tuesday by the Federal Reserve Board to push up interest rates to slow the economy and fight inflation. Economists predict a wide range of interest rates, including mortgage rates, will increase further this year. Fixed-rate mortgages hit a peak just before the October stock market crash of 11.58 percent. As the Fed pumped money into the economy to avoid a recession, the average dropped to 9.84 percent in early February. The increase since then means homebuyers taking out $100,000 mortgages now face about $670 more in annual costs than they would have on a fixed-rate mortgage taken out six months ago. Thomas M. Holloway, senior economist for the Mortgage Bankers Association of America, said fixed-rate mortgages likely will rise another three-quarters of a percentage point by the end of the year. ``I think it\'s going to slow down the housing sector, but I don\'t think this is the death of the industry,\'\' he said. Fixed-rate mortgages have fluctuated widely over the past several years, depending on financial market assessment of inflation dangers. But the one-year rate has stayed relatively low, serving as an alternative for home buyers when fixed rates jump. However, adjustable rates now are also moving higher, reflecting Federal Reserve tightening, which has a more immediate effect on short-term rates than on long-term rates. In a separate report, the Federal Home Loan Bank Board, which regulates federally insured savings institutions, said fixed-rate mortgages declined slightly from 10.78 percent in early June to 10.73 percent in early July. The dip followed three consecutive monthly increases. Unlike Freddie Mac averages, the bank board numbers include add-on fees known as ``points.\'\' Also, the bank board averages do no reflect changes over the past month. The bank board said rates, including points, for the most popular type of one-year, adjustable-rate mortgages _ those with caps on how high the rates can increase _ rose for the third month in a row from 8.80 percent in early June to 8.86 percent in early July.\r\n'),(1979,2,'A U.S.-chartered Iraqi Airways jetliner ferrying seven Americans and other former hostages to freedom arrived in Frankfurt late Tuesday from Baghdad. On board the Boeing 707, along with the Americans, were two Canadians, two Britons, an Irishman, an Italian, and an Australian, said Craig Springer, U.S. Consulate spokesman in Frankfurt. Before departure, diplomats said six Britons were on board and did not mention an Australian or Italian. There was no immediate explanation for the discrepancy. U.S. officials had originally planned to charter a Boeing 747 jumbo jet to Frankfurt and it was to have two State Department doctors aboard to deal with people coming out of hiding in Kuwait who have experienced a lot of stress. Just one of the doctors was on the flight, said Springer. Springer said the former hostages would stay in a hotel outside Frankfurt overnight and fly to their final destinations the following day on regular commercial flights. The Boeing 707 was one of three chartered jetliners delivering former hostages out of Iraq on Tuesday. Two others left for Bangkok and London. Diplomats said 14 Americans were on the charter flights from Baghdad. Seven were among the 310 people, most of them Britons, on the flight that left for London. Seven more were on the flight to Frankfurt. A Japanese-chartered Iraqi Airways 707 left Baghdad for Bangkok with 159 people aboard, including 14 Japanese diplomats from Kuwait and the rest mostly former Japanese hostages. The White House said Tuesday that a scheduled Thursday evacuation flight of Americans is ``likely to be the last\'\' and will probably also carry home the remaining staff of the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait. Iraqi President Saddam Hussein last week announced the blanket release of all Westerners, and the first specially chartered freedom flights began Sunday. Earlier Tuesday, diplomats said about 600 U.S. citizens remain in Iraq and Kuwait. They also said about 400 were expected to remain in Iraq, mostly people with dual U.S.-Iraqi citizenship or American spouses of Iraqi citizens.\r\n'),(1980,2,'A man who donated one of his kidneys to save his mother\'s life seven years ago died hours before she could repay him with a bone marrow transplant to help him overcome leukemia, authorities said Monday. ``I\'m really heartbroken,\'\' Ernestine Mitchell said. ``If only he could have lasted eight more hours.\'\' Her 37-year-old son, Hilliary, had been unable to work as a truck driver since contracting leukemia, and was to receive the bone marrow transplant during a day-long operation beginning at 7:30 a.m. He died of an infection shortly before midnight Sunday, said John Easton, spokesman for the University of Chicago Hospitals. Mitchell died from ``an overwhelming infection related to the leukemia and the loss of his immune system,\'\' Easton said. ``High doses of chemotherapy needed to combat the disease and prepare the patient for the transplant can leave the patient without a functioning immune system.\'\' Mrs. Mitchell said she and other family members were at her son\'s bedside Sunday and had expected him to hang on for the potentially life-saving procedure. ``It\'s a hurting thing, but I have to remain strong because he was strong at the end,\'\' Mrs. Mitchell said. ``He talked to us and was kissing us all and we thought he was getting better. We were waiting for 7:30 to come.\'\' Mrs. Mitchell said she was convinced her bone marrow would have helped. ``I carried him for nine months, his body was a part of my body. Then he gave me his kidney,\'\' she said. ``I know that if he had gotten the marrow everything would have been OK. Being a mother, I think it would have.\'\' Mitchell himself knew that his odds were not good because his disease was already at an advanced stage and he had been hospitalized before because of other infections, Easton said. Leukemia is a form of cancer in which abnormal cells can spread in the bone marrow, preventing it from making normal blood cells. This leaves the patient highly susceptible to serious infections, anemia and bleeding. A transplant replaces the patient\'s defective marrow with healthy marrow. Easton said the mother\'s bone marrow removal operation had been scheduled for this morning, with the transplant to be done in the afternoon. The operation was filled with risks, and the odds of Mitchell\'s recovery were 25 percent to 40 percent, he said. Mitchell had been mentally prepared, said Dr. Robert Geller, who was to have performed the transplant. ``When you\'ve got no options, you go with what you\'ve got,\'\' Geller said. Mitchell already had won one battle in getting the money for the $150,000 transplant from the state Medicaid program after Gov. James R. Thompson stepped in and reversed a decision denying funds for the operation. ``Getting the money was the hard part,\'\' Mitchell said as he entered the hospital March 23. ``I\'m a survivor. I\'ve walked in here and I\'m going to walk out again, well.\'\' Geller, a bone cancer specialist, said Mitchell had been under intensive chemotherapy for the past 10 days. Those drugs and the anti-rejection drugs Mitchell would have received are highly toxic, ``and the kidney is the most important organ in handling that toxicity.\'\' He said Mitchell\'s leukemia was in an aggressive phase and that his mother was not an ideal donor. Perfect bone marrow tissue comes from a brother or sister with an identical tissue match, Geller said. But Geller said tissue match between mother and son had been good enough in the kidney operation. Mrs. Mitchell had been dying of polycystic kidney disease. Her son\'s act in donating his kidney ``is more dear to me now than ever,\'\' Mrs. Mitchell said. ``I have an everlasting part of him, my perpetual Mother\'s Day gift.\'\'\r\n'),(1981,2,'A prosecutor on Monday promised a full probe of the Borken mine explosion, and a national television network said he was looking into whether a flame from a cigarette lighter sparked the disaster. Rescue workers early Monday found the body of another miner, bringing the number of confirmed dead to 46. Mine owners again defended the rescue operation following the disclosure that radio contact was made with six miners hours after the blast but then cut off when a radio operator told them to stop sending signals. The owners of the mine acknowledged Sunday that a radio operator told the six miners to stop sending messages, believing they were another search team. Heinz Cramer, a technical director for Preussen Elekta, the company that owns the mine, said Monday that failure to recognize the sound _ two hammers banged together by the survivors _ as a sign of life had not diminished the rescue effort. ``We knew that the area (where the men were found) presented the best possibility of finding survivors, and that\'s where we began drilling,\'\' Cramer said. The six were discovered alive on Saturday, after officials insisted there was no sign of life in the coal mine where 57 men had been trapped since Wednesday. Prosecutors are investigating whether an open flame may have ignited the gas explosion in the Stolzenbach mine in this town 72 miles northeast of Frankfurt, the ZDF television network reported Monday. The television said cigarette lighters were found inside the mine, but mine officials say there are strict regulations against smoking underground. The six surviving miners had used lighters to test for the presence of the deadly carbon monoxide _ an odorless and invisible gas that burns with a pale-blue flame when ignited. They survived by finding an air pocket in a part of the mine free of the gas. High concentrations of carbon monoxide slowed the agonizing search for the last five men still missing in the depths of the shaft. Officials said rescuers were forced to repeatedly renew their oxygen supplies. Authorities said that because of the gas fumes, there was little chance that the missing miners would be found alive. More details emerged about the harrowing ordeal of the survivors. Ahmet Batkan, the Turkish immigrant among them, was quoted as saying the men had tried to pull a seriously injured comrade to the air pocket, but the man reportedly along the way. ``He died in my arms,\'\' Batkan was quoted as saying in the Bild newspaper. Prosecutor Stephan Walcher in the nearby city of Kassel said a full investigation had been launched into the cause of the disaster. ``We will review all of the information being collected to determine what caused the accident and whether there are grounds for any criminal prosecution,\'\' Walcher told reporters at a news conference at the mine. Officials have said the mine was regularly inspected and that all government safety regulations were followed. Erwin Braun, head of the coal administration board in Kassel, said an explosion of such ferocity had never been recorded in the region. He praised the rescue efforts. News about last Wednesday\'s radio contact with the six survivors has sparked intense media criticism of the rescue operation. The survivors were found after their signals were picked up by a television crew\'s microphone, which had been lowered into a shaft 500 feet beneath the earth. A police spokesman in the nearby town of Dillich, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said a communications center set up after the accident received a flood of calls from people offering to help in the rescue efforts. He said some of the callers claimed they had seen where the miners were trapped in their dreams. ``We tell the people we\'ll call them back if they are needed,\'\' the police spokesman said. ``So far, the rescue center has not asked us to.\'\'\r\n'),(1982,2,'Pope John Paul II today bluntly told the 20-year-old polygamist king of this tiny mountain country that God intended a husband to have only one wife. The pontiff, who arrived from Lesotho this morning, was escorted by spear-carrying warriors and soldiers with machine guns into a soccer stadium to celebrate Mass. He first was driven in the wrong direction, then slipped off a platform, without injury. Then the Mass was interrupted by the arrival of King Mswati III of Swaziland, who rolled into the stadium in a Lincoln limousine to the whistles of the crowd. A turret manned by a soldier with rifle and binoculars topped the altar, where a cross was stamped with a spear, shield and war ax. Mswati acceeded to the throne two years ago. He has four wives and is engaged to a fifth. ``Christians find that a monogamous marital union provides the foundation upon which to build a stable family in accordance with the original plan of God for marriage,\'\' the pope told a crowd of about 10,000 people. ``Hence, any forms of disregard for the equal dignity of men and women must be seen as serious contradiction of the truth that Chirst, the king of peace, brought into the world.\'\' Vatican sources said John Paul had been warned by local prelates to tread carefully before addressing the issue. King Mswati, wearing red-and-white robes and with five bird feathers decorating his head, listened expressionless to the pope\'s admonission. At the end of the Mass, in an unscheduled breach of protocol, the king formally thanked the pope for his visit. The two met later at the royal palace. Earlier today, red-coated soldiers greeted John Paul at the international airport of Manzini. When he arrived at the stadium, the pope\'s open car mistakenly drove out the gate, to the dismay of the spear-carrying warriors and Vatican security men. After returning to the stadium, the pope slipped off a platform on the soggy field before climbing onto the altar. He was not injured. On Thursday, in Maseru, Lesotho, John Paul told about 15,000 young people at a rally to ``renounce every form of violence and hatred\'\' in southern Africa. Organizers expected 1 million people at the rally and blamed a bloody bus hijacking, rainy winter weather and expensive accommodations _ such as $25-dollar-a-night tents _ for the small turnout. The pope visited the Queen Elizabeth II Hospital in Lesotho Thursday to comfort 20 survivors of the hijacking, many still shaken from the shootout that ended their 27-hour ordeal. ``I am saddened to learn that others on their way to join me on this pilgrimage have been victims of a hijack that has caused such anguish and ended in bloodshed,\'\' John Paul said Thursday, the day after police stormed the bus in Lesotho with four hijackers and 71 hostages aboard, including nuns and schoolchildren. All four hijackers and two passengers, including a 14-year-old girl, died in the exchange of gunfire Wednesday between authorities and the hijackers, officials said. Twenty others were injured. The government said police stormed the bus after the hijackers ordered the driver to crash the vehicle through the closed gate of the British High Commission. The gunman called for a return to civilian rule in Lesotho. They also demanded to meet the pope, King Moshoeshoe II and the high commissioner. After his eight-hour visit to Swaziland today, John Paul was scheduled to continue to war-torn Mozambique, the last stop on his 10-day tour of five southern African countries. The pope also went to Zimbabwe, Botswana and made a brief unscheduled stop in South Africa, where his plane was forced to land because of bad weather. Swaziland, a country of 700,000 people wedged between South Africa and Mozambique, is a dual monarchy under the king, offically known as ``the Lion,\'\' and a queen mother, named the ``the Great She Elephant.\'\' Polygamy is permissable, although most men have only one wife. King Sobhuza II, the current king\'s father, had more than 50 wives during his 60-year reign, which ended with his death in 1982.\r\n'),(1983,2,'Israeli-backed Christian militiamen shelled a U.N.-policed vilage in south Lebanon today, wounding an Irish peacekeeper, three Lebanese women and an 8-year-old boy. Timur Goksel, spokesman for the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, said the Irishman was injured in the head when a 60mm mortar round crashed into one of the Irish battalion posts in Qabrikha, 18 miles east of Tyre. He declined to give the Irishman\'s name. Lebanese police later said four villagers, including three women and a boy, also were wounded in the bombardment. Police said the South Lebanon Army militia opened up on the Shiite Moslem village after a roadside bomb exploded in the village of Qantara, in Israel\'s self-designated securitu zone in south Lebanon. It as not clear whether anyone was hurt in the explosion. The 2,000-man militia patrols the 6-to-10-mile deep security zone jointly with Israeli troops. The buffer was established after Israel withdrew the bulk of its occupation force from south Lebanon in 1985, ending a three-year invasion.\r\n'),(1984,2,'They cheered when the fat barkeep Jock was shot. They booed when drug-dealing Leo threatened to torch his wife. And they said, ``Goodbye!\'\' when eye-patched Nadine threatened suicide. More than 100 fans of the broodingly comic ABC series ``Twin Peaks\'\' gathered Wednesday night in the Salish Lodge _ the real-life counterpart of the show\'s Great Northern lodge _ to watch the season-ending episode. Much of the series was shot in this small Pacific Northwest logging town about 30 miles east of Seattle. The audience sat glued to the three glowing screens in the basement ballroom of the Salish, gorging as lustily on cherry pie, doughnuts and coffee as any of the ``Twin Peaks\'\' townies. ``It\'s great. It\'s twisted like me and all my friends,\'\' said Annie Raye, who came dressed as the character Nadine, down to the makeshift patch over her left eye. ``Nadine knows a lot she\'s not telling,\'\' Ms. Raye said, referring to the unsolved murder of the character Laura Palmer in the show. ``Nadine has spent time alone with the log.\'\' The log, for those uninitiated in the hour-long series that will return in the fall, is usually carried by the ``log lady,\'\' a psychic who talks with it for insight. Locals say ``Twin Peaks,\'\' with its dueling-chainsaw loggers, satanic cults and macabre death plots, has little to do with the real Snoqualmie. But they\'re addicted anyway. Garnet Cross, who bakes pies for the cafe immortalized by the show _ the Mar-T in nearby North Bend _ was given a front row seat at Wednesday\'s gathering. Ms. Cross, who has baked pies for 50 years, said the demand for her authentic cherry pies has exploded since FBI agent Dale Cooper first smacked his lips over the Double R Diner\'s cherry pie in the ``Twin Peaks\'\' pilot. She said people include the Mar-T on trips to Washington now, and she\'s had requests to mail pies out of state. ``This is the best thing that\'s happened to me,\'\' she said. Mar-T owner Pat Cokewell said: ``We used to sell about one a week. Now we sell as many as she makes.\'\' The ballroom gathering was organized by radio station KLSY, which has started calling itself the official ``Twin Peaks\'\' station. Announcer Tim Hunter said he got hooked after watching the first episode. He said he received more than 200 calls when he asked if listeners wanted the station to recap the show each week. That led to a radio contest, and winners got to come to the season-finale party in real ``Twin Peaks\'\' territory. At least one local wasn\'t happy with the show. Louis Delicino looked harried in his Salish Lodge tuxedo shirt and bow tie as he rushed from table to table delivering plates of cherry pie. Pausing with three plates balanced on his left arm and two more in his right, the Snoqualmie native said, ``This is surely madness over a TV show that has no connection to real life.\'\'\r\n'),(1985,2,'Iran is still searching for the ``black box\'\' recorder that may hold important information about the flight of a jetliner shot down by a U.S. warship, the Iranian navy commander said Monday. Commodore Mohammed Hussein Malekzadegan spoke after the English-language Dubai newspaper Khaleej Times, quoting salvage experts it did not identify, said Iranian frogmen recovered the flight recorder in the Persian Gulf ``a couple of days ago.\'\' Malekzadegan said in an interview on Tehran radio the black box ``may have been destroyed\'\' when missiles fired by the cruiser USS Vincennes hit the Iran Air Airbus on July 3, killing all 290 people aboard. ``It\'s also possible that we may find it,\'\' he said. ``In any case, the search is continuing.\'\' Data in the recorder could help determine whether the Airbus A300 received radio warnings from the Vincennes. The Pentagon says the jetliner did not respond to warnings and the cruiser\'s radar operators mistook the plane for an F-14 fighter because it seemed to be emitting military-type responses. American officials have backed away from earlier claims that the plane was descending or was outside civilian flight lanes. The Khaleej Times said the salvage experts it quoted had worked with Iran in the past and expressed surprise that recovery of the black box had not been announced. It also quoted Itay\'s commander in the gulf, Rear Adm. Angelo Mariani, as saying the heavy air and sea traffic could complicate investigations of the tragedy. ``There are so many boats, small and big ships, airliners, military jets of various kinds,\'\' he said. Mariani said the Italian frigate Espero heard a U.S. warship, not identified, radio at least one warning to an aircraft shortly before the Airbus was shot down, the Khaleej Times said. ``Since we only listen to military frequencies, I cannot confirm whether the same message was repeated on the civilian international frequency or not, but I assume it must have been,\'\' he was quoted as saying. Pentagon spokesmen said repeated warnings were sent on military and civilian channels. In London, the Sunday Times said a British intelligence report based on monitored radio communications is ``severely critical\'\' of the U.S. Navy for shooting the airliner down. According to the Times, the report says Iran Air Flight 655 left Bandar Abbas for Dubai only three minutes late, was on the correct flight path and was climbing when the missiles struck. It said the report suggested a skirmish with armed Iranian speedboats in which the shooting started July 3 may have been provoked by U.S. helicopters entering Iranian air space. The Vincennes and the USS Elmer Montgomery destroyed two boats and damaged one before the cruiser shot the plane down. The U.S. Navy was escorting the year\'s 46th convoy of U.S.-flagged Kuwaiti tankers Monday, moving up the gulf to the sheikdom. The 294,739-ton products carrier Townsend was accompanied by the frigate Robert G. Bradley, said a spokesman at U.S. Central Command headquarters in Tampa, Fla. Eleven Kuwait-owned tankers have been given U.S. registraton so the Navy can protect them. Convoys began in July 1987. A Navy investigation of the Airbus disaster was in its sixth day Monday and the Vincennes was anchored off Bahrain with two barges alongside. Its crew has been restricted to the ship for security reasons, with sailors allowed ashore only in small groups to make telephone calls home.\r\n'),(1986,2,'Secretary of State James A. Baker III today proposed that 35 foreign ministers from East and West meet in New York in late September to plan a summit meeting by the end of the year. Baker put the proposal to a NATO session meeting in Brussels to discuss security in a changing Europe. The objective of the summit would be the signing of a treaty to sharply reduce troops, tanks, artillery and other non-nuclear arms in Europe. The NATO foreign ministers took no direct action on Baker\'s proposal for preparations in New York, according to Italian and other European sources. His initiative confirms President Bush\'s determination to conclude the treaty being negotiated by NATO and the Warsaw Pact by year\'s end. The accord would set a limit of 195,000 Soviet troops outside Soviet borders and 225,000 U.S. troops in Western and Central Europe. The 35 nations include all the European states except Albania, along with the United States and Canada. In 1975 they signed the Helsinki agreement to lessen tensions in Europe. ``We are all of the opinion that (the summit) must be thoroughly prepared,\'\' West German Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher told reporters. He reiterated Bonn\'s position that the 35-mation grouping, known as Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, must be given more weight in Europe\'s future. Baker, flying to Brussels on Wednesday from Washington, enthusiastically endorsed the proposition. He said a larger role by the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe was part of the ``new security architecture\'\' for Europe that he first proposed in a Berlin speech in December. NATO Secretary General Manfred Woerner said the alliance had agreed to accept France\'s invitation to host the conference summit in Paris. At the summit, the 16 NATO and seven Warsaw Pact nations would sign a conventional arms agreement. Negotiations on that agreement are now tangled over limits on aircraft and helicopters, and methods of verifying reductions within the two alliances.\r\n'),(1987,2,'Sara and Amy Kienast glare at each other over feet propped on the dining room table and argue the finer points of rock \'n\' roll music. They both like it, but Amy wouldn\'t be caught listening to REM. And so it goes with the Kienast quintuplets: They are so much alike yet so different. Sara, Amy, Abby, Ted and Gordon turn 18 on Wednesday and hope the day marks the end of media-mobbed birthdays and the beginning of separate lives. ``We\'ve been five all our lives. Now is our chance to be one,\'\' said Sara as her brothers and sisters nod in agreement. ``We want to make a name for ourselves, by ourselves.\'\' After years of press scrutiny, well-publicized financial problems and the suicide of their father, the quints are a steely bunch and proud of it. They also are distinctly individual. Each plans to attend a different college and four have picked schools far from the spacious farmhouse in this New York City suburb where they grew up. ``It\'s about time,\'\' Abby said with a grin. ``I\'ve been with them for 18 years. I could make do without seeing their faces every day.\'\' None plans to tell new friends he or she is a quintuplet. ``Why should we have someone look at us and think of four different people,\'\' said Sara. The quints say their separation in the fall will be painless because they all live separate lives now. ``We basically have the same friends, but we don\'t hang out with the same people,\'\' said Amy. ``On the weekends, we don\'t do things together.\'\' The siblings say that all that sets them apart from other teen-agers is that there are five of them. ``We have the same fights, you know, that other brothers and sisters have. The girls are always taking my sweaters and stuff,\'\' Ted said to the protests of his sisters. The quints gained worldwide attention when they were born Feb. 24, 1970, after their mother, Peggy Jo Kienast, took fertility drugs. At first, many offers of help and endorsement opportunities clothed and fed the children. But financial pressures began a few years later and an anonymous source saved them from eviction by providing more than $115,000 to pay off mortgages and property taxes the Kienasts owed. In 1984, the quints\' father, William, committed suicide after his plastics business began to falter. At that most difficult time, reporters and photographers camped outside the family\'s home, making the family angry. ``I really started to resent the media when dad died,\'\' said Sara. ``There\'s a limit you can take. ``I understand now,\'\' said Ted. ``They have a job to do and someone sends them out to get a picture and they have paychecks and families, too. But at the time it was too much.\'\' Despite the unwanted attention, the quintuplets say they appreciated the cards and letters they received from around the world when their father died. They also say they have put his death behind them. ``We couldn\'t dwell on it,\'\' Amy said. ``Mom wanted us to get on with our lives.\'\' Mrs. Kienast says she\'s looking forward to her children leaving home. ``I\'m all for parenting and children, but I don\'t live through my children. I\'m looking forward to this next step,\'\' she said. ``You\'re worn out by their senior year.\'\' The quints\' birthdays _ what Ted calls ``press day\'\' _ have always been met by clicking cameras and a string of interviews. But this year will be different: The quints plan to go their separate ways and celebrate with friends on Wednesday, then hold a private family party on Sunday.\r\n'),(1988,2,'Seventeen Marines suffered injuries in the rough landing of a helicopter troopship at a desert training area Friday afternoon, a Marine Corps spokesman said. Medical personnel late Friday were examining the extent of injuries to the Marines hurt in the 2:15 p.m. accident at the Marine Air-Ground Combat Center, Capt. Timothy Hoyle said. The injured, most of them based at Camp Pendleton, flew in another aircraft for treatment at the Navy hospital at Twentynine Palms, about 140 miles northeast of Los Angeles, Hoyle said. The helicopter, a CH-46E Sea Knight, and its crew of three belong to the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, headquartered at the Marine Corps Air Station in El Toro, Calif. Investigators searched for the cause of the accident, Hoyle said. The severity of damage to the aircraft was not immediately known. The 25-passenger Sea Knight, an assault helicopter in service since the Vietnam War, was participating in helicopter-borne assault training.\r\n'),(1989,2,'Stock prices rose sharply today, propelled by hopes for lower interest rates. Shortly before the close, the Dow Jones average of 30 industrials was up 44.06 at 2,487.87.\r\n'),(1990,2,'Jeff H. Reynolds, who is seeking control of financially struggling Bond Corp. Holdings Ltd. in return for a $197 million investment, has a business address that is a mail-drop. His U.S. company, Weatherby Investments Inc., does not appear to be traded publicly as he contends, officials said Monday. The 28-year-old Texan, little known on the investment scene, said in a news release last week that he was negotiating with Bond Holdings, the Australian holding company. The release listed an answering service as a contact number. The answering service forwarded calls about the offer to Reynolds mother\'s house in Houston, where he discussed his business and personal history in a telephone call Monday morning. Messages left in later follow-up calls to a brother and an answering machine at the house were not returned. Among the unanswered questions are: _Why his news release said his Weatherby Investments Inc. is an over-the-counter stock and why he said it was traded over-the-counter on the ``pink sheet\'\' distributed by the National Quotation Bureau. The National Quotation Bureau and the National Association of Securities Dealers have no record of Weatherby, and it is not listed in guides to over-the-counter stocks. Reynolds said Monday Weatherby had earlier been known as California Pacific Industries, and he intended to change the name back. But there was no listing under that name either. _Why the address and suite to which investors are invited to send questions is a private mail-drop box in Beverly Hills, a year-and-a-half after Reynolds says he moved his operations from Texas to California. In the conversation early Monday, Reynolds said his work was done from several offices, including an unspecified location in Century City, but he gave no address and said he is still looking for a central location. Reynolds describes himself as an intensely private businessman, who used to walk in his bankers\' side doors because he favored jeans and cutoffs. He says he still feels more comfortable in a sweatsuit, crunching numbers at a computer terminal, than in a suit and tie. ``I\'ve always had a real hardcore attitude about other businesses and banks _ if they\'re going to deal with me they\'re going to have to know me and put up with me,\'\' he said. ``I\'m not going to fit into their world.\'\' Bond, the holding company whose Australian brewing interests are in the hand of receivers, says it will listen to offers from Reynolds, who says Weatherby is a division of Singapore-based California Pacific International Pte Ltd. Reynolds says he is descended from a long line of oilmen in Throckmorton, Texas, and locals there say books have been written about the Reynolds clan and its intermarriages with the even more famous Matthews cattle and oil family. Reynolds said he took freshman English and biology classes at the University of Texas and a few business classes at various colleges before succumbing to entrepreneurial urges. He got started in business by importing ``gray market\'\' cars, upgrading them to meet American standards and selling them at a profit, he said. ``Actually I was living in Austin and a few of my frat brothers got in with me,\'\' Reynolds said. ``We had some cash flow and it looked pretty good and I said, `The hell with this\' (college career).\'\' As it stands now, he says he\'s confident he can find refinancing for Bond\'s $6 billion debt. Bond says it wants to see more details, and skeptics in the international investment community say they have never heard of Reynolds or his operations. Reynolds says he got a real-estate broker\'s license in Texas in 1983 and got involved in development companies. He also says he has dabbled in a clay-tile factory in France.\r\n'),(1991,2,'Making the jump from high school senior to college freshman may be traumatic for a youngster, but what about the parent? Pete Goldsmith, dean of student life at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Va., has some advice for being a ``successful\'\' college parent: _ Stay informed. Read the school\'s newsletters and other information that is generally sent to you by the college. Get your own copy of the college catalog and student handbook. _ Get involved. Check into any parents\' associations at the school. In addition to feeling more a part of the college, you\'ll make new friends. _ Communicate. Don\'t hesitate to call if you are concerned about something innvolving the college or your child. _ Expect change. There will be times you may not like what your child is doing or uncomfortable with thoughts expressed, but be patient and understanding. And be flexible. _ Provide challenge and support. It\'s like teaching a child to swim: the parent decides when to let him flounder and when to rescue him. The college experience is no different. Parents need to decide when to provide encouragement and when to intervene. When it comes to financial support beyond tuition, room, board and books, take a walk through the campus, the bookstore and the town. You\'ll gain a sense of what\'s appropriate. _ Show your interest. Ask about academic work. Visit the campus on Parents\' Weekend or other special occasions. _ Trust your student. You\'d be surprised at the common sense most students display.\r\n'),(1992,2,'Some states are considering whether to ban use of a synthetic hormone to increase cows\' milk production, but the federal government has allowed the milk to be sold to the public even though it hasn\'t approved the hormone for commercial use. No one has been able to refute the U.S. Food and Drug Administration\'s conclusion that dairy products and meat from animals treated with the hormone are safe for people. But many are uncertain about what they see as an invasion of essential foods and say not enough is known about long-term effects of bovine somatotropin (pronounced soh-mat-uh-TROPE-in), or BST. ``I\'ve got four girls here, ages 1 to 9, and I don\'t want that stuff in my milk,\'\' said Chuck Brown, a Minnesota legislator. He led a successful drive for a temporary ban on the genetically engineered hormone, known also as BGH. ``It seems to me that No. 1, the cows don\'t want it, the vast majority of dairy farmers in this state don\'t want it, the consumers don\'t want it. So who wants it? The four companies making it. Who are we working for?\'\' Brown said last week from his Appleton, Minn., home. The companies _ Monsanto Agriculture Co., Eli Lilly Co., Upjohn Co. and American Cyanamid _ have applied to FDA for marketing approval. The homone injections increase a cow\'s milk production from 10 percent to 25 percent, and the worldwide market for BST has been estimated at more than $500 million a year. Critics have not suggested a specific health risk but say not enough research has been done to be sure the hormone would be safe for people. It would be the first major biotechnology product to reach the agriculture market. Although FDA approval is not expected for about a year, the agency has allowed milk from test herds being treated with BST to be sold to the public. ``Way below\'\' 1 percent of the milk would come from these cows, and it generally is mixed, usually at dairy cooperatives, with milk from other herds, Bonnie Aikman, an FDA spokeswoman, said. There is no way for a consumer to know, but several companies, including Borden\'s, and some supermarket chains said they would not use or sell products from cows in the BST test herds. Jeremy Rifkin, president of the Foundation on Economic Trends and a frequent biotechnology critic, is campaigning for a boycott against BST. Dairy farmers are worried about how consumers might react to products from treated cows. And some say increased milk production will lower prices, hurting small farmers. A temporary ban was approved last month in Wisconsin, and legislation is pending in New York, Pennsylvania and Vermont. And, at the request of Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, the General Accounting Office is reviewing FDA\'s assessment of the risks of BST. Leahy\'s concern was prompted in part by an FDA veterinarian who said he was fired after alleging that testing of BST was flawed. Aikman acknowledged the controversy over milk safety but added that the FDA\'s ``veterinary people said it is one of the safest drugs that they have reviewed.\'\' In addition to human safety, the FDA must determine if BST is safe for animals and the environment and whether it does what it claims to, that is, increase milk production. Monsanto spokesman Gerry Ingenthron said research has been conducted for a decade and the studies have ``raised no concern about the safety of the product.\'\' The treated cows, he said, are injected with synthetic BST, a protein made from the animals\' genes that is ``virtually the same as a protein they already produce.\'\' BST is also a natural product of cows\' pituitary glands. Proponents claim the injections of synthetic hormone produce no changes that affect the safety of food. Opponents say too little work has been done on too few cows to reach conclusions about effects on cows and people. Consumer groups also complain that FDA and the companies involved should make test information public.\r\n'),(1993,2,'A research project to find ways of killing the Asian cockroach, a pest that invaded Florida two years ago, has not been ended and will continue at least through the next fiscal year, the Agriculture Department said Wednesday. Ralph A. Bram, head of research on insects affecting humans and animals for the department\'s Agricultural Research Service, said the agency has ``not closed out any research program aimed at controlling these pests.\'\' Bram said the agency\'s research budget next year is for $243,700 to be spent on cockroaches, the same as this year. The work is done at the agency\'s laboratory in Gainesville, Fla., in cooperation with the University of Florida. The agency said recent published reports, including one in the St. Petersburg Times, ``implied\'\' that another USDA scientist, Richard J. Brenner, said the cockroach will spread to all of the contiguous 48 states. Bram said Brenner actually said there is no way of knowing exactly how far north the cockroach will migrate. Because of winter temperatures, he said, it is doubtful the insect would survive father north than Maryland on the East Coast, Tennessee in the central area, and lower Washington state in the West.\r\n'),(1994,2,'Police clashed with about 250 stone-throwing Moslem fundamentalists who attacked a theater troupe, a security source said Wednesday. One student was killed and four were injured as officers dispersed the crowd. The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the incident took place Tuesday night at the village of Kodeya, 25 miles from the southern provincial capital of Assiut. He said it wasn\'t known what killed 23-year-old Mohammed Kotb. One of the four wounded students was in critical condition, he added. In a statement read to The Associated Press by telephone, a fundamentalist spokesman claimed the student was killed by police gunfire. ``The Moslem group went out through the village in a peaceful march of protest ... when police attacked them with tear gas and opened fire on the demonstrators, killing the student Mohammed Kotb,\'\' the statement said. The spokesman, who refused to give his name, said forces then surrounded the village, raided homes and detained fundamentalists. The spokesman said the students were protesting a ``dancing party\'\' organized by security forces. The security source, however, said the fundamentalists attacked a theater troupe performing a play about Islam and peasants. The troup had been invited to perform by the government\'s culture club at the village. ``Around 250 Moslem fundamentalists from the village and nearby villages gathered in a mosque after evening prayers and then moved to the hall where the play was being performed, carrying stones and rocks,\'\' the source said. He said the students, from a teacher training college, ``attacked the hall and tried to destroy the building,\'\' but security forces surrounded them and used tear gas and sticks to disperse them. He did not say whether police made any arrests. Police forces guarded the building until the play was finished, the source said. The southern Assiut province has been a hotbed of fundamentalist agitation for almost a decade. Fundamentalist students armed with knives, bicycle chains and stones, attacked an Assiut University campus parade on March 7, denouncing it as an anti-Islamic ``dancing and singing party.\'\' In the ensuing clash with security forces, two students and two policemen were wounded.\r\n'),(1995,2,'A Finnish military training plane failed to come out of a spin during an air show stunt and crashed, killing the pilot hours after an air show disaster claimed more than 40 lives in West Germany. The crash Sunday at Kleine Brogel Air Base, 68 miles northeast of Brussels, was the second such air accident this month in Belgium. Witnesses said one of the two Redigo aircraft taking part in the show organized by the Belgian air force was unable to come out of a spin during stunt manuevers and plunged to the ground. Officials said the pilot, Ari Piippo, was flying too low to enable him to safely eject from the plane, which belonged to the state-owned Finnish aircraft maker Valmet. Valmet recently sold 10 Redigo airplanes to Finland\'s air force for training purposes. On Aug. 7, a Belgian pilot died when his Mirage-5 jetfighter crashed at an air show, also organized by the Belgian air force, at Leopoldsburg, seven miles west of Kleine Brogel Air Base.\r\n'),(1996,2,'Brent Musburger, the primary voice of CBS Sports in the 1980s, was fired by the network Sunday after negotiations on a new contract broke down. The network announced that the broadcast of Monday\'s college basketball championship will be the last CBS assignment for Musburger, who had been scheduled to cover major-league baseball this summer. ``I was surprised, but it was a great run and I have a million memories, and I leave behind a lot of good friends,\'\' Musburger said in a statement read by Jimmy Tubbs, his personal assistant. ``At this time, I\'m going to take an extended vacation, and I\'ll be working again someday, somewhere.\'\' Ted Shaker, executive producer of CBS Sports, said network officials believed Musburger\'s workload was too heavy, but that the broadcaster resisted attempts by CBS in contract talks to have him cut down. ``It\'s a difficult decision,\'\' said CBS Sports President Neal H. Pilson. ``It\'s never easy to deal with individuals with whom you have personal or business relationships.\'\' Musburger has been reported to earn between $1.6 million and $2 million per year from CBS. Pilson said he wouldn\'t describe the negotiations as ``a squabble over money,\'\' but refused to say what was in dispute. Pilson said negotiations for a new contract had been going on for several months between the network and Todd Musburger, who represents his brother. He said the Musburgers had asked for a decision by Sunday. Both Musburgers were unavailable Sunday but Tubbs, Musburger\'s assistant for 5{ years, said it had been apparent for several days that talks weren\'t going well. ``It wasn\'t right out of the blue,\'\' Tubbs said. ``Negotiations had been going on and they just broke off.\'\' Broadcasting the National Collegiate Athletic Association basketball game between Duke and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, will be the final CBS assignment for Musburger, the network said in announcing the decision. Musburger\'s 5{-year contract was to expire in July. Musburger is in his sixth season as lead play-by-play man for the NCAA basketball tournament and has been host of ``The NFL Today\'\' since 1975. He has anchored the Masters golf tournament, the NBA finals, the Pan American Games and late-night coverage of the U.S. Open tennis tournament. Musburger, who has been with CBS Sports since 1975, was scheduled to become the main voice for CBS\' baseball coverage, which begins April 14. He also was in line to host the network\'s coverage of the 1992 and 1994 Winter Olympics. Industry speculation on a possible baseball replacement for Musburger centered on Al Michaels, said to be unhappy with his status at ABC. Michaels was unavailable to comment Sunday.\r\n'),(1997,2,'One of five soldiers injured in a training accident last week has died, bringing the death toll in Operation Desert Shield to 81, the U.S. military\'s Central Command announced Monday. The soldiers from the 3/320th Field Artillery of the 101st Airborne Division were participating in a training exercise Thursday when a 105mm howitzer exploded, the military said. One of the soldiers, who had been in a coma, died Sunday, the military said. His name was withheld pending notification of next of kin. The cause of the accident is under investigation. Two sailors from the aircraft carrier USS Midway also died Sunday when their tour bus overturned on a liberty excursion, the military\'s Joint Information Bureau announced Monday. Five other sailors were injured, two seriously, in the accident 50 miles south of al-Dhafra airbase in Abu Dhabi. On Saturday in the Mediterranean, a chartered Israeli ferry carrying U.S. sailors capsized while returning to the USS Saratoga from the Israeli port of Haifa, killing 21 sailors.\r\n'),(1998,2,'Two men trapped in an avalanche while sliding down a hill were rescued after nearly seven hours under 6 feet of snow, authorities said. ``These guys are very lucky. It was a stupid move on their part,\'\' said police Officer John Chilton. Passers-by dug out Brett Woods, 24, and Keith Kathcart, 19, late Sunday after hearing screams and seeing a glove resting atop the snow near the Chapman Hill ski area. The two were hospitalized in good condition Monday. Close to 3 feet of snow had fallen in southwest Colorado by Sunday, prompting the Avalanche Warning Center in Denver to warnings throughout the weekend. Woods and Kathcart were sliding down a steep embankment when the snow slide occurred. They were admitted to Mercy Medical Center with hypothermia and muscle injuries, authorities said. Woods\' body temperature had dropped to 91 degrees after the accident, while Kathkart\'s was 87, said Dr. Mack Johnson. ``I guess under the circumstances, they were in pretty good condition,\'\' said Frank Mackey of the Fire Department. ``They could talk and one of them walked to the ambulance.\'\' Andy Loving of the Avalanche Warning Center said the U.S record for surviving snow burial is nine hours. ``After 30 minutes of burial, the chances of survival are reduced by half,\'\' he said. ``They must have had some kind of air space around them.\'\'\r\n'),(1999,2,'Former Republican Sen. Lowell P. Weicker Jr., the maverick lawmaker who made a career of bucking his party and championing liberal causes, said Friday he would run for governor of Connecticut as an independent. ``You\'re going to get one hell of a race,\'\' declared the former three-term senator. ``I think I\'m going to win it. I don\'t think it\'s any gamble at all.\'\' Weicker, 58, told reporters, supporters and onlookers in a packed Capitol conference room that his unsuccessful bid for a fourth Senate term in 1988 ``took me down a peg or two and probably deservedly so. I\'ve taken my licks.\'\' ``It\'s now 1990 and I believe that, as never before, we need each other,\'\' he said. The announcement capped weeks of intense speculation about Weicker, who in 28 years of political activity cultivated a reputation for aggressive, independent Republicanism. He became a national figure in the mid-70s as one of the first Republicans to take on President Richard M. Nixon during the Watergate scandal. Weicker would say nothing negative about Democratic Gov. William A. O\'Neill or Rep. Bruce A. Anderson, a four-term congressman challenging O\'Neill for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination. Nor would he criticize any of the four Republicans now in the running. Weicker was elected to the Senate in 1970 in a three-way race in which the Democrats were badly split. Of his bid to make it a three-way race in the November election, he said: ``The ironies are not lost on me, I can assure you.\'\' Weicker said he expects he\'ll need campaign funds of $1 million or $2 million, less than half of what the other major party candidates are talking about spending. The Greenwich millionaire said he wouldn\'t spend any of his own money on the race. Democrats hailed his decision to run, saying it would divide the GOP and throw the party into chaos. State GOP Chairman Richard Foley said that with Weicker\'s announcement, ``the race is over. We just won,\'\' but his voice didn\'t carry conviction.\r\n'),(2000,2,'``We as an American public don\'t reach out to help one another like we used to. We don\'t share like we used to. We\'ve become a very selfish nation.\'\' - Charlotte, N.C., Mayor Sue Myrick, co-chair of the United States Conference of Mayors\' Task Force on Hunger and Homelessness. --- ``Considering the sorry state of education in California, it would be more appropriate to name a high school after Ronald Reagan than to name it after me.\'\' - Rock musician Frank Zappa, declining to have a high school named after him. --- ``Aristide is the medium through which the people have discovered the possibility of being protected by being together. That\'s what the other Haitian politicians didn\'t understand. The people wanted justice.\'\' - Human rights activist Jean-Claude Bajeaux on the Rev. Jean-Bertrand Aristide, probable winner in Haiti\'s first fully democratic election.\r\n'),(2001,2,'A group of prominent Algerians announced plans Sunday to hold a tribunal next month against President Bush on charges including crimes against humanity. The group said it plans to hold the proceedings in the Algerian capital, Algiers, on Dec. 10. Foremost among the charges will be ``threatening peace and world security by his preparation for an aggressive war against Iraq,\'\' the group said in a communique. The Algerian tribunal will be headed by Ali Ammar Louar, former president of Algeria\'s bar association. It will be made up of academics, lawyers and intellectuals active in human rights, the group said. The tribunal is apparently not sponsored by the Algerian government. It would have no way of enforcing its sentence. In its statement, the group said the U.S.-led economic blockade of Iraq is a crime under ``terms of the international convention for prevention of and punishment for genocide.\'\' The sanctions, approved by the United Nations, were imposed after Iraq\'s Aug. 2 invasion of Kuwait.\r\n'),(2002,2,'Israeli Foreign Minister David Levy offered Friday to send humanitarian relief to Iran to help search for trapped survivors of that country\'s killer earthquake. ``Israel is very sorry for the grave natural disaster in Iran and is prepared to give the Iranians immediate aid as it has done for various other nations,\'\' said Eliza Goren, Levy\'s spokeswoman. Iran reportedly said humanitarian aid would be welcomed from all nations except South Africa and Israel. Goren said Levy made the offer through the League of International Red Cross. Israel has had no diplomatic ties with Iran since the Islamic revolution ousted the Shah in 1979. Dr. Mark Heller, a top researcher at the Jaffe Center for Strategic Studies, said no one really expected the offer to be accepted. ``I suspect that this is an attempt to demonstrate to the Iranians that Israel has no intrinsic hostility to Iran,\'\' Heller said. ``But I don\'t think that anyone seriously expects the Iranian government will accept.\'\' Levy\'s offer to Iran comes as the new right-wing government has made various moves toward neighboring Arab states. Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir has invited Syrian President Hafez Assad to unconditioned talks and published his phone number, requesting any Arab states seeking peace to call. But Goren said Levy\'s offer to send a relief team to Iran was made on humanitarian grounds only. Before Khomeini rose to power, Iran was an island of support for the Jewish state in the Middle East, and home to a wealthy Jewish community of about 60,000. It also provided 40 percent of Israel\'s oil needs. Israel sent relief teams after Iran\'s September 1978 earthquake. Israel has hoped that President Ali Khamenei would be more moderate than his predecessor. ``Israel has tried to cultivate better relations with Iran for a long time but since the revolt the Iranian regime has been extremely hostile to Israel,\'\' Heller said. ``The offer is consistent with Israeli policy in the past the only change will be if Iran actually accepts.\'\' Clandestine contacts between Israel and Iran, however, have continued. They largely involved the sale of weapons and spare parts during Iran\'s eight-year war with Iraq. In December 1987, Israel sent a 42-member rescue team to search for survivors in Soviet Armenia.\r\n'),(2003,2,'Wholesale gasoline and crude oil prices moved higher in the futures market Friday, but failed to recover all the ground lost earlier in the week. Traders said buying picked up as the stalemate in the Middle East dragged on. Early waves of selling this week had been inspired by hopes for a quick negotiated settlement to the crisis, which has threatened the world\'s oil supplies. Light sweet crude oil rose 55 cents on the New York Mercantile Exchange to end the week at $27.32 per barrel on contracts for October delivery. ``The general perception in the market is continued concern or anxiety that the diplomatic solutions don\'t look like they\'re coming through,\'\' said Ann-Louise Hittle, senior oil analyst with Shearson Lehman Brothers Inc. Friday\'s strongest move was in unleaded regular gasoline, which rose 7.25 cents to 96.32 cents per gallon for September contracts in their last day of trading on the New York Merc. Home heating oil was up .35 cent to 75.89 cents per gallon, also on the last day of trading for September delivery. ``There is a shortage of refining capacity in the world, and the situation in the Middle East has really affected those refineries,\'\' said Bernard Picchi, an analyst with Salomon Brothers Inc. A daily refining capacity of 1.3 million barrels has been taken off the world market because of the embargo of Iraq and Kuwait, he said. ``The Middle East is not just a big crude oil exporting region. It\'s also a big products exporting region,\'\' Picchi said. The stock market has tended to move in opposite directions from petroleum prices since Iraq invaded Kuwait on Aug. 2, but it gained ground Friday in slow, indecisive trading. Analysts said it was difficult to read much significance into the market\'s meanderings, noting that many investors were getting an early start on Labor Day. The Dow Jones average of 30 industrials rose 21.04 to 2,614.36, finishing the week with a net gain of 81.44 points. Oil was down for the week. Crude futures took a hit of $4 per barrel on Monday and nearly $2 per barrel on Wednesday. Gains on other trading days were more modest, leaving the per-barrel price down $3.59 from the previous Friday, which had capped a string of three trading days above the $30 mark. Gasoline was down 8.4 cents per gallon for the week. Heating oil was down 15.05 cents per gallon for the week. Natural gas futures closed at $1.500 per 1,000 cubic feet for October contracts on Friday, down from $1.537 a day earlier and $1.525 a week earlier. Analysts said some traders were keeping prices up as they bought futures Friday to avoid getting caught short over the long Labor Day weekend. New York financial markets are closed Monday.\r\n'),(2004,2,'The memorandum added: ``Since some recent health problems among embassy staff appear similar to EMP (electromagnetic pulse) researchers at Boeing, at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), and possibly at the Naval Special Weapons Center, comparison of details of exposure and later-occurring pathologies appears warranted.\'\' Health problems which have been reported among personnel working with electromagnetic pulse equipment include an unusually high incidence of brain tumors and liver diseases. A memorandum prepared by Myers following his 1975 visit to Moscow said, ``Dr. Herbert Pollack, a State Department consulting physician, has found that several members of the embassy display symptoms that are non-specific but have been reported frequently in patients chronically exposed to non-ionizing radiation.\'\' Such symptoms include headaches, inability to concentrate and fatigue, as well as physiological effects including shifts in the ratios of various blood cells. Soviet intentions remain the foremost unanswered question surrounding irradiation of the embassy. Attempts to figure out the purposes behind the microwave beams have involved specialists at the State Department, CIA, Defense Intelligence Agency, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and National Security Agency. The difficulties posed by this task were reflected in a June 6, 1975 letter in which the CIA\'s Colby told Eagleburger at State: ``We hope that by working together State and CIA technical officers can come up with satisfactory answers to this perennial enigma.\'\' Three theories have been put forward as possible explanations: _The Soviets were trying to interfere with U.S. electronic intelligence-gathering operations; _The microwaves were used to interact with Soviet eavesdropping devices planted within the embassy; _Or the Soviets were trying to induce psychological, behavioral or physiological effects among American personnel. Mark Garrison, who served as head of the State Department\'s Soviet desk and then as the Moscow embassy\'s No. 2 official before retiring in 1980, said in an interview, ``We never did really figure out to my satisfaction what the purpose of the microwaves was. I\'ve got hunches about it, but there was no final, formal finding that was passed down from the technicians.\'\' ``It\'s extremely difficult for people running the political side of the (U.S.-Soviet) relationship and the management side to get a good handle on high-tech electronic stuff,\'\' said Garrison, now director of Brown University\'s Center for Foreign Policy. Garrison leans toward the electronic jamming theory. However, that explanation has been challenged by Moscow veterans familiar with the military-run electronic intelligence-gathering operations. Retired Army Brig. Gen. R.E. Barber said he ``absolutely cannot accept\'\' the jamming hypothesis because when he was in Moscow during the mid-1960s the microwaves ``had no effect whatsoever on our activities.\'\' Samuel Koslov, a non-ionizing radiation specialist who has helped investigate the radiation, believes the beams probably were been intended to interact with Soviet listening devices. ``They (U.S. debugging specialists) still haven\'t satisfied themselves that they\'ve found all the devices that may have been interacting with that signal. They may have found some of them, but they certainly haven\'t found all of them,\'\' said Koslov, a biophysicist at Johns Hopkins University\'s Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md. He added, however, that ``there could have been different purposes at different times\'\' over the 35-year history of the microwaves problem. Regarding possible anti-personnel uses of microwave radiation, Koslov said, ``I wouldn\'t say that it is impossible to produce psychological effects, but you would have to do it with very different kinds of signals, much higher power than what you have there.\'\' Other American specialists involved in the investigations have raised the ``mind control\'\' and weaponry possibilities. Among them was Richard S. Cesaro, who in the mid-1960s was serving as deputy director for advanced sensors at the Pentagon\'s Advanced Research Projects Agency. Cesaro helped run the classified Pandora Project, in which monkeys were exposed to a ``synthetic Moscow signal\'\' in a laboratory at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research. Initially, Pandora researchers believed that the irradiation had caused subtle behavioral effects in the test animals. By mid-1969 consideration was being given to expanding the project to include human subjects. Later, however, re-analysis of the experimental data raised doubts about its validity. A scientific review panel decided in 1970 that the project should be disbanded. Nevertheless, Cesaro, in an interview prior to his death two years ago, contended that ``in our experiments we did some remarkable things. And there was no question in my mind that you can get into the brain with microwaves.\'\' Arguing that the Soviet bloc\'s investment of funds, personnel and laboratory facilities in research on non-ionizing radiation bioeffects has far outstripped the West\'s, he said, ``I look at it as still a major, serious, unsettled threat to the security of the United States.\'\' ``If you really make the breakthrough, you\'ve got something better than any bomb ever built, because when you finally come down the line you\'re talking about controlling people\'s minds,\'\' Cesaro said. Another research effort whose results proved highly controversial was the State Department\'s secret genetic testing program, carried out from 1966 to 1969 under the cover name of the ``Moscow Viral Study.\'\' This project involved taking blood samples from embassy personnel exposed to the Soviet microwaves and from a control group and analyzing the white blood cells for possible chromosomal damage. Those who were tested were not told the actual purpose, but instead were given the cover story about checking for a viral condition. By late 1968 concern about results of the cytogenetic testing had mounted among senior officials privy to the findings, and the university contractor, Dr. Cecil Jacobson, urged that the study be continued and expanded. In mid-1969, however, the State Department abruptly decided to terminate the study, after having test slides re-examined by four outside consultants. Nicholas H. Steneck, a University of Michigan history professor and author of a book, ``The Microwave Debate,\'\' said the cytogenetic testing program ``was set aside on the shoddiest and shakiest of grounds.\'\' ``At the very least there was scientific ambiguity, because there were some researchers who said the techniques were very good and that they did see effects,\'\' Steneck said. ``If nothing else, on the basis of that you do a follow-up study _ you don\'t just crank it down.\'\' Asked about Steneck\'s remarks, Dr. Charles E. Brodine, State Department assistant medical director for environmental health and preventive medicine, said he had not been with the department at the time of the genetic testing program and would prefer not to comment. Government officials and outside experts say one of the biggest lessons learned from the microwave problem was that it was a mistake to keep the radiation secret from most employees until February 1976, when the State Department began briefing current, former and prospective Moscow personnel. ``The main lesson is to be upfront with employees about things that they might consider to affect their health and well-being,\'\' said Garrison, the former State Department official.\r\n'),(2005,2,'The White House took a cautious, wait-and-see attitude today to Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze\'s surprise announcement he was resigning his post. ``It\'s not entirely clear what the situation is. We need to clarify that first\'\' before saying anything further, said White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater. Asked if he thought Shevardnadze\'s decision was final, Fitzwater said, ``We don\'t know.\'\' ``I just talked to the State Department and we want to at least make sure we know exactly what\'s happened there\'\' before commenting further, the press secretary added. Secretary of State James A. Baker III has forged a close working relationship with Shevardnadze on arms control and on the Persian Gulf crisis.\r\n'),(2006,2,'Democratic presidential contender Michael Dukakis said today at the White House that the Reagan administration\'s anti-terrorist policy is worthless because of arms dealing with Iran. In the Midwest Republican Bob Dole taunted George Bush for refusing to compete in Minnesota and South Dakota. Dukakis, speaking to reporters after a National Governors\' Association meeting with the president, said, ``I\'d have a much tougher, and much more consistent anti-terrorist policy.\'\' The Massachusetts governor, referring to the sale of arms to Iran during secret negotiations to free American hostages, said, ``We\'ll be living with the consequences of what happened in 1985 for a long time.\'\' ``You never, ever make concessions to terrorism. If you ever do it, then your policy is worthless. And that\'s what we did,\'\' said Dukakis. Asked about Dukakis\' statement, White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said, ``I think it\'s very dangerous to make terrorism a political issue, especially when you\'re talking about specific episodes. Vice President Bush, who has said repeatedly he supported Reagan\'s Iran initiative but was involved with few details, was campaigning in South Carolina today. But Dole, in Duluth, Minn., was suggesting Bush wasn\'t where he should have been. Minnesota and South Dakota, the next two events on the long road to the 1988 presidential nominations, vote on Tuesday. ``We\'re ready to do well here tomorrow. We\'re here to play,\'\' Dole told supporters in Duluth today. ``I don\'t know where George Bush is,\'\' Dole said. ``I didn\'t find him yesterday in Wyoming. Couldn\'t find him in South Dakota. Couldn\'t find him in Minnesota. Must be somewhere. And these are very important states. Later today we\'re going to send him a map of Minnesota so at least he gets a little idea where it is.\'\' Among the Democrats, Richard Gephardt, who also finished first in Iowa, is bidding for a strong showing in South Dakota\'s Democratic straw poll to give him a boost as the campaign moves toward the Super Tuesday showdown on March 8. The 4,067 Minnesota caucuses are the first step toward choosing 78 delegates to the Democratic National Convention, while on the Republican side caucus attendees will mark a non-binding straw ballot to express their presidential preference. In South Dakota\'s primary, Republican voters will determine allocation of 18 convention delegates, while the Democrats will hold a beauty contest ballot that will not have a binding effect on who gets the state\'s national convention delegates. Bush, faced with the potential of a repeat of the Iowa results in which Midwesterner Dole was a big winner, is concentrating on the South where he hopes to cripple the Kansas senator\'s effort. Dole is a strong favorite in South Dakota, while Minnesota is shaping up as a three-way fight between Dole, Rep. Jack Kemp of New York and former television evangelist Pat Robertson. Dukakis, winner of the New Hampshire Democratic presidential primary, is campaigning hard in both these upper Midwest states in an effort to prove he can win support outside his native New England. After an appearance at the National Governors Association meeting in Washington, including a session with President Reagan, Dukakis was flying to Minnesota to campaign. On his way into the White House for a black-tie dinner Sunday night, Dukakis quipped, ``I\'m just looking the place over, that\'s all.\'\' Asked where he hoped to be next year, Dukakis replied, ``I hope right here.\' Gephardt, who has made tough action to correct trade imbalances a cornerstone of his campaign, got a blow from his House colleagues when words came out they planned to scuttle his legislation that would impose sanctions on countries that maintain large trade surpluses with the United States through unfair practices. ``We\'re going to dump it because it\'s bad policy,\'\' said Rep. Sam Gibbons, D-Fla., chairman of the Trade subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee. ``I\'m going to fight for my amendment,\'\' said Gephardt, when told of the plan. Much of the sniping between presidential rivals was being done by long distance. Sen. Albert Gore Jr. of Tennessee, who made little effort in Iowa and not much more in New Hampshire while pursuing a Southern strategy for the Democratic nomination, was interviewed on the NBC show ``Meet the Press\'\' on Sunday and got in jabs at both Dukakis and Gephardt. The senator attacked Gephardt for shifting positions. ``It\'s not a case of just having one or two or three issues where he has changed 180 degrees,\'\' said Gore. ``There is a long, long list of issues.\'\' Turning to Dukakis, Gore said the governor has not had ``a single day\'s experience in foreign policy.\'\' Dukakis\' spokesman Leslie Dach quickly retorted that ``Al Gore\'s never had a day of experience balancing a budget or building an economy.\'\' Gephardt was attacking Dukakis in ads running in South Dakota that criticize the Massachusetts governor for not supporting farm legislation sponsored by Gephardt and Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin. The ads also take a shot at Dukakis for once suggesting in Iowa that farmers ought to consider diversifying into such crops as Belgian endive. The ads drew retorts from Dukakis supporters in both Minnesota and South Dakota. ``A new low in South Dakota presidential politics,\'\' said State Sen. Roger McKellips, a co-chairman of Dukakis\' South Dakota campaign. After his surprising second-place finish in the Iowa caucuses, Robertson was considered a strong contender in Minnesota where caucus organization is once again important. The former evangelist was in Spartanburg, S.C., on Sunday and told a crowd of about 4,000 at a church dedication that ``the problem facing America is not a government problem but a moral problem.\'\'\r\n'),(2007,2,'The Town Council has resigned to protest reports its members are suspected of ties with the Mafia. The councilmen followed the lead of the mayor, Paolo Scarna. He quit after a nephew was suspected of killing a judge last month who was ruling on whether purported Mafia members should be kept under house arrest, news reports said Friday. The resignations of the 32 council members came amid reports that police were investigating local politicians for possible links with organized crime. The town of 25,000 people, one of the poorest in Sicily, is in the province of Agrigento, an area that over the last few years has seen many slayings linked to the mob, including the murder of two anti-Mafia magistrates. Italy\'s top anti-Mafia fighter, Magistrate Domenico Sica, has looked into possible Mafia activity in the town. In Palermo, meanwhile, officials announced on Friday that police have arrested 12 people suspected of drug-trafficking and money-laundering. The arrests came in a nationwide sweep that began Thursday night and involved searches of houses and business offices in Palermo, Rome, Milan and the northern cities of Como and Asti, police officials said. Those arrested were held for investigation of suspected organized crime ties that involved drug dealing and money laundering. Investigators said they were aided by the testimony of a former mobster-turned-informer and by the discovery in January of a ledger that police say contained entries on Mafia financial transactions. The ledger was found in the house of a fugitive suspected Mafia boss. The drugs appeared to have moved directly from Turkey to Sicily and the drug profits appeared to have been laundered through Swiss banks, the Italian news agency AGI reported.\r\n'),(2008,2,'The active-duty strength of the nation\'s military services declined in February from both the previous month and the year-earlier period, the Pentagon said Thursday. As of Feb. 29, the Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force had 2,163,193 men and women on active duty, down 2,625 from Jan. 31 and a decrease of 8,914 from the Feb. 28, 1987, tally. It is not unusual for military strength to swing up and down on a monthly basis during the year, primarily because of differences in the flow of new recruits. The strength totals are expected to vary even more widely than normal this year, though, because the Pentagon is reducing its active-duty strength in a budget-cutting move. According to the latest ``Military Strength\'\' assessment, three of the four armed services reported personnel reductions in February. The Marine Corps reported 198,231 men and women on active duty, down just 12 from January. The Air Force had 603,599 on active duty, down 975; and the Army listed 776,415, down 2,308. The Navy, meantime, reported an increase of 670 personnel in February, with 584,948 on active duty at the end of the month. The Marine Corps and Air Force reported declines in strength compared with Feb. 28, 1987, while the Navy and Army reported slightly increases.\r\n'),(2009,2,'President Mikhail S. Gorbachev\'s plan for switching to a free-market economy backs away from a 500-day timetable, and Boris N. Yeltsin, leader of the Russian republic, said it was doomed to fail within six months. Gorbachev\'s 66-page blueprint, delivered to members of the national legislature Tuesday, is at least the fourth in a confusing and complicated series of plans for salvaging the failing economy. ``Another endeavor is thus being made to perpetuate the system hated by the people,\'\' Yeltsin said Tuesday. ``The new program is a catastrophe which will break out within the first few months.\'\' ``If the ... Parliament approves today\'s uncompromising program, it will take less than six months to realize that the chosen road is another blunder.\'\' A text of Yeltsin\'s remarks to the Russian Federation\'s legislature was published today in Sovietskaya Rossiya, the Russian Communist newspaper. Gorbachev\'s plan would give the 15 Soviet republics sweeping new powers to run the nation\'s economy, free many prices from government regulation and allow private ownership of businesses. It sets no timetable for the transition, but notes other nations have accomplished similar goals in 1{ to two years. Gorbachev is to present his plan to the Supreme Soviet national legislature on Friday, and the 542 members could vote on it as early as Saturday. Parliamentary committees began studying the proposals today. Yeltsin, president of the Russian republic, and the federation\'s other leaders have endorsed a radical plan for scrapping Communist central planning for a market-based economy in 500 days. Yeltsin said the Russian republic could go ahead with that program on Nov. 1, setting up its own currency, customs service and army. He acknowledged this would be difficult and costly, even for the biggest and wealthiest of the 15 Soviet republics, but said: ``If we show indecision in such a situation, we will lose the voters\' trust and respect.\'\' ``If we procrastinate and put off (the reform) further, there will be nothing to reform because the economy will simply fall to pieces,\'\' he said. Yeltsin said Gorbachev\'s program, if adopted, would increase the national budget deficit to about $528 billion. ``The consumer market inevitably will be swamped by a shower of paper (money) and prices may grow dozens of times,\'\' he said. The plan Yeltsin has endorsed is named after its chief architect, economist Stanislav Shatalin. It differs from Gorbachev\'s plan in several key respects. The Shatalin plan suggests selling factories to private owners, breaking up collective farms and returning land to peasants, but the Gorbachev plan drops a clear commitment to private ownership of land. It says only that republic authorities will decide conditions for giving land to people for agriculture. The Shatalin plan would also gradually end all state control on prices. Under the Gorbachev plan, the government would still set prices in 1992 on bread, meat, dairy products and a few other staples. Yeltsin said the Gorbachev plan was an attempt ``to preserve the administrative-bureaucratic system.\'\' The proposal caps an intensive three-week effort by Gorbachev and top economists to resolve fundamental differences over how to change a system that fails to provide adequate food, shelter and services for the country\'s 285 million people. Differences among competing economic plans have touched on the very underpinnings of Soviet communism: socialist property, collective labor and state ownership of all land. ``People\'s lives are becoming more difficult, their interest in labor is falling, their faith in the future is crumbling,\'\' the Gorbachev plan says. It says the long lines in which Soviet shoppers must stand daily are a ``shame,\'\' and acknowledges rising food prices, overcrowded apartments and empty store shelves. But it hesitates to move ahead too quickly with reform, stating: ``The experience of applying stabilization programs in other countries ... shows that such a period can take about 1{ to two years.\'\' Gorbachev\'s compromise package, however, borrows heavily from the Shatalin plan in giving republics more economic power. Under Gorbachev\'s plan, republics would gain control of most of the resources on their territory. After delegating much economic power to republics, businesses and individuals, the central government would concentrate on defense, energy, highways, railroads, space exploration and communications. Gorbachev originally supported the Shatalin plan which was to have gone into effect Oct. 1, ``but the sinking union (national) government put pressure on the president, and he again changed his mind,\'\' Yeltsin said.\r\n'),(2010,2,'Angel Wallenda said goodbye to the tightwire Sunday night, joining her husband and 3-year-old son for one last performance before an operation she hopes will arrest the cancer that claimed her leg. Steven Wallenda joined his wife and their precocious toddler Steven II to the tune of ``Angel of the Morning\'\' on the tightwire that has brought the family fame for decades. ``You have to overcome a certain fear,\'\' Mrs. Wallenda, 21, said after the performance in Mansfield, where the family lives. ``And I\'ve done that with both the wire and the cancer.\'\' In 1987, Mrs. Wallenda was diagnosed with bone cancer, and doctors were forced to amputate her right leg and fit her with a prosthesis. The cancer spread to her lungs, and she is scheduled to undergo further surgery March 20 at City of Hope National Medical Center in Duarte, Calif. ``I\'m glad I got to do it,\'\' she said of Sunday\'s performance. This month\'s surgery will end her career as an aerialist. Her husband said he and their son will continue the performing tradition. Ticket sales for the performance, which draw about 1,000 people to Mansfield University, raised more than $3,500 for her medical bills, supplemented by some $4,500 from a local Vietnam veterans\' group. Steven Wallenda is a veteran of that war. Shaky at first Sunday night, Mrs. Wallenda steadied during the latter part of her walk across the 30-foot steel rope, followed closely by her husband. A later act featured Steven II in a harness riding on his father\'s shoulders. Wallenda traces his family\'s tightwire heritage to the 1600s. The most famous of the Wallenda acrobats, ``Karl the Great,\'\' died after a 1978 fall during a performance in Puerto Rico. Steven Wallenda II is the last male performer born with the Wallenda name and one of the few direct descendants of the original acrobats. The elder Wallenda said he hoped Steven II would follow in his careful footsteps, but, ``It\'s up to him.\'\'\r\n'),(2011,2,'Diana Lewis works for the Police Department, but her truck has been forced into a life of crime. Her silver 1979 truck was stolen in early July and again this week from the same bus parking lot. Both times, police say, the truck was apparently used as a getaway vehicle by the same man to rob two banks. Enough\'s enough, says Ms. Lewis, who has transferred to a new police job and won\'t park her truck in the lot any more. ``The odds of becoming a victim around here seem to be getting smaller,\'\' said Ms. Lewis, a civilian employee for the detective bureau and a part-time reserve officer. Ms. Lewis found the abandoned truck herself after it was used in a July 6 robbery. Officers found it a few hours after it was used in a bank robbery Wednesday. If the last robbery wasn\'t enough, it also got a paint job. A dye package planted in the stolen cash exploded inside the truck\'s cab, painting it red.\r\n'),(2012,2,'The federal fund that insures deposits in commercial banks could suffer a loss in 1988 for the first time in its 54-year history, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman L. William Seidman said Monday. Seidman said a loss to the insurance fund, if any, would depend on how much the FDIC spends to resolve the problems of First RepublicBank of Dallas, which earlier this month received a $1 billion infusion of government aid. The deterioration of Texas banks, hard hit by losses on real estate and energy loans, has raised concern about the health of the insurance fund, which backs deposits of up to $100,000 in 13,700 commercial banks. Speaking at a luncheon meeting with reporters, Seidman said it is too soon to say with certainty what the cost of restoring First RepublicBank to health will be. But, he said the $5 billion to $6 billion estimates of some are ``far higher than anything that is likely to be required.\'\' He said the $1.7 billion cost of the 1984 bailout of Continental Illinois Bank & Trust Co., which was about the same size as First RepublicBank, ``is the best guide we have.\'\' The FDIC\'s initial outlay on First RepublicBank could be higher than the ultimate cost, just as it was in the case of Continental when the agency spent $4.5 billion, Seidman said. However, he said the FDIC now usually tries to structure bank rescues so that the initial cash cost is close to the ultimate cost. If the First RepublicBank cost is in the $1.7 billion range and if banks fail this year at about the same rate as last year, then ``it is possible we will have a loss in 1988,\'\' he said. Last year, a post-Depression record of 184 banks failed. Forty-four have failed so far this year and Seidman said he expected the 1988 total to be roughly the same as 1987. As failures have increased, the steady growth of the FDIC fund _ from $4.6 billion in 1970, $11.6 billion in 1980 to $17.9 billion in 1985 _ has slowed. The fund finished 1986 with $18.2 billion and 1987 with $18.3 billion. Seidman said the 1988 loss, if it occurs, would be ``something under 5 percent ... certainly under ... $1 billion.\'\' He said he did not see any prospect for what he termed a substantial loss, one approaching 20 percent, or about $3.5 billion. He contrasted the relatively healthy condition of the FDIC fund with that of the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corp., which insures deposits in 3,170 savings institutions. FSLIC was insolvent until last fall when money began flowing from congressionally-authorized bond sales. It has had to keep bankrupt S&Ls open because it lacked the money to pay off depositors.\r\n'),(2013,2,'The University of North Dakota is under pressure from Jewish leaders to educate students about the Holocaust with some of the $5 million it was promised by a casino owner who collects Nazi memorabilia. Ralph Engelstad, owner of the Imperial Palace Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas and a 1954 graduate of UND, pledged the money to support the school\'s hockey program. Engelstad has been under fire since it was revealed earlier this month that he had amassed a large collection of Nazi war equipment and twice held theme parties celebrating Nazi leader Adolf Hitler\'s birthday. Engelstad has apologized for the parties and offered to give his collection to the National Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington. Morton Ryweck, regional director for the Anti-Defamation League of B\'nai B\'rith, said Wednesday that Engelstad\'s collection and parties had ``trivialized the Holocaust.\'\' Engelstad\'s apology would mean more if he would rededicate part of his $5 million endowment to education on the evils of Nazism and the Holocaust, Ryweck said in a letter to UND President Thomas Clifford. ``In the future, there would be fewer people ignorant about it, and fewer people who are apt to trivialize it, as was done in Las Vegas with these parties,\'\' Ryweck said. Mara Sapon-Shevin, a member of the Grand Forks Jewily\'s hands. Kraft died in 1953.\r\n'),(2014,2,'Two very American responses to a potential oil shortage have emerged from the Iraqi threat. One is to have ``somebody do something\'\' about it, and the other is to do something about it oneself. In the first instance, elected officials are urged to take action against alleged price exploiters through the courts or legislative bodies, the notion being that sellers should be forced to serve consumers. The process hasn\'t worked well in the past. If there are no profits to be made, oil shippers, wholesalers, refiners, distributors and sellers won\'t remain in business. The flow will slow and the pump lines will grow. In the other instance, people examine their own situation and decide what action they can take. They recognize that while high prices or a shortage will hurt them, they can lessen the damage by conserving. Conservation worked in the past, in the 1970s, and the American economy and all those who contribute to it are better off. It raised the quality of homes and automobiles, not to mention the effect on the quality of the air we breathe. It worked well for a decade. More efficient and cleaner combustion engines were developed, doubling the miles per gallon of automobiles. More effective insulation materials were developed, making homes snug with less fuel used. The development of solar power, cleanest of all, was accelerated. Idle water power was put to use. Heat from machinery and electricity was reused rather than vented. Progress was made in the safe use of nuclear power, and while environmental fears thwarted full usage and eventually stalled the program, the advances that were made might be relied on again some day. Lives as well as gasoline were saved when the national speed limit was reduced to 55 miles an hour. In spite of higher prices, some people even reduced their bills by agreeing to car pool their way to work each day. Americans all but abandoned much of the conservation effort during the 1980s. Young, innovative solar power companies went out of business. Utilities abandoned nuclear power plans. The speed limit and thermostats went up. But the effort has shown that individuals could find value in what appeared to be a total negative, and some of those options are still available. Many people can drive less, and more slowly and efficiently. Some can join car pools. Most can turn down thermostats and be healthier for it. They can avoid paying prices that are out of line with those of other sellers. In a business sense, alternative energy sources still represent a private-sector investment opportunity. For the government, the latest crisis could provide an opportunity for measures reducing U.S. dependency on imports. Experience shows that any economic crisis an have important and lasting benefits for individuals, companies and governments. Recessions create conditions for expansions, for example, and fuel shortages lead to fuel-saving. It suggests that initiative in the face of crisis might be more effective than complaining to elected officials, some of whom might be more interested than the oil refiners and retailers in exploiting the situation.\r\n'),(2015,2,'Britain last year basked in its warmest`weather since records were first kept 330 years`ago, the Meteorological Office said today. The mean temperature in central England rose to 51.2 degrees in 1989, breaking the previous record of 50.9 degrees set in 1949. Meteorological Office spokesman Barry Parker said last year was the sunniest since 1909 and the driest`since 1976. ``While the maximum temperatures were not as high as 1976, the summer many of us remember with glee, the weather was consistent all the way through the year,\'\' Parker said, adding that April was the only month considered very cold. The government\'s records, compiled since 1659, show the winter of 1989 was the 20th century\'s warmest, the spring ranked 10th warmest`and the summer and fall were the seventh warmest this centuryn The mean temperature indexl which takes a sampling of weather stations`in central England, is considered the most reliable national weather guide. Earlier this year, the London Weather`Center announced that 1989 was the sunniest this century. The center said the capitol sizzled in 839.5 hours`of sunshine in May, June and July.\r\n'),(2016,2,'A former high-ranking state senator was sentenced Monday to 12 years in federal prison for corruption uncovered in an FBI sting in which he sold influence for campaign contributions. Paul Carpenter stood silently when U.S. District Judge Edward Garcia sentenced him, declining an offer to speak. Carpenter, a silver-haired 62-year-old Democrat from suburban Los Angeles, was convicted in September of racketeering, extortion and conspiracy. The charges followed an undercover operation at the state capital. In the sting, an FBI agent posing as a businessman paid Carpenter $20,000 in campaign contributions to get a bill through the Legislature. At Carpenter\'s trial, other instances were cited of his shaking down lobbyists for campaign money. Carpenter, who must surrender to authorities by Jan. 7, was also ordered to repay $20,000 he received from an FBI undercover agent in the sting operation. ``It\'s a case of proven acceptance of bribery money and extortion of money in the form of political contributions,\'\' said the judge, who called the evidence against Carpenter ``overwhelming.\'\' The judge also observed that the former lawmaker felt no remorse. He said Carpenter\'s punishment was intended to deter others. Carpenter will be eligible for parole in four years. Carpenter\'s attorney, Gerard Hinckley, said he would appeal the sentence. A former Senate Democratic Caucus chairman, Carpenter was for several years one of that body\'s top fundraisers. After 12 years in the Senate, he was elected in 1986 to the Board of Equalization. His sentencing removes Carpenter from the powerful state tax board. Carpenter was the second elected state official snagged in the five-year FBI probe. Joseph Montoya was still a state senator when he was convicted in February of racketeering, extortion and money laundering. He is serving a 6{-year prison sentence. The investigation is continuing. So far four other people have pleaded guilty to charges that flowed from it - two former legislative aides and two former county law enforcers. Another two former legislative aides are awaiting trial. Most of the charges against Carpenter related to his dealings with John Brennan, an FBI agent who posed as Alabama businessman Jack Gordon. The agent paid Carpenter $20,000 in campaign contributions as a payoff for Carpenter\'s help in getting a bill through the Senate to finance a fictitious shrimp business. Carpenter said he told an aide he wouldn\'t take the money unless he was assured that he wouldn\'t have to do anything in return. However, the next day, in a tape-recorded conversation with Brennan, Carpenter promised to serve as the bill\'s problem-solver and to ``stroke\'\' the state treasurer to remove opposition to the measure. The bill was approved by the Legislature but vetoed by Gov. George Deukmejian, who was tipped off to the FBI investigation.\r\n'),(2017,2,'Stock prices ended slightly higher Thursday after a dull day of trading on the London Stock Exchange, as the market failed to take direction from an eagerly awaited string of British economic reports. Instead, trading activity focused on selected issues, especially those involved in takeover situations, dealers said. The Financial Times-Stock Exchange 100-share index was up 3.0 points, or 0.2 percent, at 1,833.9, its best level for the day. The index moved in a narrow range throughout the day, losing at most 4.2 points shortly after the start of dealings. But shares rose late in the day on the back of early gains on Wall Street..\r\n'),(2018,2,'The Reagan administration\'s top health official said Thursday he will not take a position on a proposed White House ban on using intentionally aborted fetal tissue for medical treatment until a National Institutes of Health advisory committee has completed its review of the issue. Health and Human Services Secretary Otis R. Bowen told reporters that _ while he remains personally opposed to abortion _ ``there are some good pros and some good cons\'\' about using aborted fetal tissue for experimental treatment for Parkinson\'s and other diseases. He said ``a task force of the best minds going\'\' was studing the issue at a three-day NIH meeting and that he had no intention of taking a position until the review is completed, probably not for several weeks. Bowen said he could not predict whether the issue will be resolved during the last few months of the Reagan administration even though a White House official, Gary Bauer, is pushing for quick implementation of an outright ban. ``Inasmuch as abortions are legal, being unable to utilize the tissue ... would result in the waste of a resource that is livesaving and curing for several diseases,\'\' Bowen told reporters at a breakfast meeting. He spoke at about the same time the NIH panel he referred to was opening a second day of hearings to focus on moral and ethical issues. Bowen said it was his judgment that ``we can\'t in a good common sense way come up with an answer until we hear\'\' from the advisory panel. ``If I had Parkinson\'s I think I would want some of those (transplanted) cells,\'\' said Bowen, emphasizing that such a personal observation does not eliminate the broader ethical questions. He made clear he did not feel rushed to recommend an administration position even though a Bauer memo disclosed in news accounts last week instructed Bowen to make his comments by last Friday. ``We have not responded,\'\' Bowen said. ``I do not know whether it was a direct order from the president and I don\'t know that I will know unless someone tells me.\'\' Procedurally, the special NIH committee will make its recommendations to a standing NIH advisory committee Dec. 1 and that panel in turn will make a recommendation to NIH Director James B. Wyngaarden. The NIH director reports to Bowen through Dr. Robert E. Windom who ordered a temporary ban on federally financed fetal tissue research pending consideration of moral and ethical issues. Father Don McCarthy, a Roman Catholic church leader from Cincinnati, told the NIH committee the issue draws a clear distinction between induced abortions and natural abortions. ``One might say that the American public becomes accomplices after the fact for these induced abortions\'\' if its institutions embrace policies that could tend to assign a medical value to having an abortion, he said. Several witnesses and committee members used the term ``custom pregnancy\'\' as short hand for the concern that a woman might become pregnant just to produce a fetus for abortion and subsequent research use _ either for financial reward or in hopes of helping a sick relative. ``I don\'t think people are as callous about abortion as that premise suggests,\'\' said Thomas H. Murray, director of the Center for Biomedical Ethics at the Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. ``If we get to that point, I\'m deeply worried.\'\' Murray said he was convinced that guidelines could be drawn to insure that a woman\'s decision to have an abortion would be kept totally separate from the decision to allow the remains to be used for research. Robert J. Levine of the Yale University School of Medicine told the committee his institution has drawn its own guidelines that would exclude transplanting the tissue of an fetus into a relative of the mother. He said that was done out of safety considerations _ that whatever caused the disease in the relative might somehow be present in the offspring\'s genes _ but coincidentally also serves to negate concern about ``custom pregnancies.\'\' Ezra C. Davidson Jr., head of the obstetrics and gynecology department at King-Drew Medical Center in Los Angeles, said he was distressed that some committee members seemed to underestimate ``the intensity of the drive for (many) women to have abortions to resolve a very complex set of problems\'\' without any encouragement from researchers or others. ``I just wish I had the capacity to translate the reality of that to the people in this room,\'\' he said.\r\n'),(2019,2,'Wherever it exists, rent control is an issue that splits public opinion, penetrating deep beneath individuals\' mere political instincts into their philosophical marrow. It is viewed as the most effective protection the poor have against greedy landlords. It is seen by others as a violation of private property rights by governments that should, constitutionally, be protecting them. The issue attracts as much emotion as reason. In every city where it exists, it is defended as needed to protect the poor _ and simultaenously damned as the cause of inferior housing, and too little housing, for the poor. Never dormant, the issue has been heated to a boil again by a Feb. 24 Supreme Court ruling that seems to reaffirm a municipality\'s right to consider a tenant\'s finances before allowing or disallowing a rent increase. In the specific case, Pennel v. City of San Jose, Calif., the court upheld the constitutionality of an ordinance in which a city official would deem whether or not a tenant could afford an increase of more than 8 percent. Under the ordinance, if the city hearing officer so ruled, the allowable rent increase could be rolled back to 5 percent, plus an amount needed for improvements, maintenance and rehabilitation. Landlords boiled over, since most have for years contended that their industry has been singled out for exceptional treatment, that treatment being an unconstitutional taking of private property _ that is, theirs. But, as usual, even the institution of the Surpeme Court couldn\'t deal with the issue without splitting sharply. Chief Justice William Rehnquist wrote the majority opinion, but Justice Antonin Scalia wrote a scathing critique. Said Rehnquist: ``We have long recognized that a legitimate and rational goal of price or rate regulation is the protection of consumer welfare.\'\' But in Scalia\'s view, such regulation permits unfair transfers of wealth. Moreover, said Scalia, these wealth transfers have added dimensions that make them cause for additional concern. They are, for instance, relatively invisible, he said. They have ``relative immunity from normal democratic processes.\'\' And as a consequence, they allow government to subsidize a social group ``off budget.\'\' The National Association of Realtors filed a brief that added a practical dimension. Rent control, it said, it inherently irrational, since it exacerbates rather than relieves a shortage of affordable housing. The NAR can support its contentions with independent studies; it is no secret to anyone familiar with rent control that it scares apartment builders away and can cause landlords to abandon properties. Those who defend rent control contend that theirs is the best way since, as they see it, those members of society who need protection are granted it, while landlord interests are secured by regular and fair, albeit limited, increases. But William North, NAR executive vice president, states that the court has ``created the ultimate oxymoron: compulsory charity.\'\' Rental hardship cases, he argues, are a responsibility of the community, not just of landlords.\r\n'),(2020,2,'Meals are being shipped by the millions, but rivets are scarce. New uniforms and desert boots are in production - and in demand. Four months after President Bush ordered U.S. troops to the Persian Gulf, sustaining the still-growing deployment is proving to be an extremely complex, and costly, endeavor. More than $1.2 billion has been spent on food, clothing and medical supplies alone, never mind the millions more on weapons, parts and other materiel needed for the desert deployment. The operation is providing at least a temporary boom to many suppliers who were expecting less military business this year. Instead of closing plants or cutting shifts, several food and clothing suppliers are adding workers or offering overtime to meet Pentagon pleas for quick delivery. A sampling of the orders: -113 million meals, including 74.4 million Meals Ready-to-Eat, the basic field ration, 10.8 new entrees, including pot roast and beef sukiyaki, and 14 million new ``lunch bucket\'\' entrees to add chili and macaroni and cheese to the menu. -4.8 million pounds of sugar, 3.2 million pounds of flour and 1.4 million pounds of coffee, contracts worth a combined $5.6 million. -547,000 sundry packs, at a cost of $194 million, to supply the troops with razors, shaving cream, toothpaste and the like. -1.5 million tubes of lip balm, costing $278,000. -796,008 pairs of desert and hot weather boots, a $31.6 million deal. -379,375 cans of foot powder; 165,000 pairs of sunglasses; 371,000 wool sweaters; and 3.3 million desert camouflage uniforms, just one of several big-ticket clothing buys. -More than 600,000 armor-piercing rounds for the Army\'s Bradley Fighting Vehicles, a contract worth $14.3 million to GenCorp\'s Aerojet Ordnance Division. And buying is just half the task - the Pentagon has to get the goods 7,000 miles to Saudi Arabia and other Mideast points as it masses a 60-day or better supply cushion. The scope of the supply effort is giving pause to some military planners, who worry the inevitability of sustainment problems will be used to advance arguments for early use of force if Iraqi President Saddam Hussein ignores a Jan. 15 deadline to end his occupation of Kuwait. The operation is also expensive, and getting more costly by the week as stocks now filling Desert Shield requisitions run low, forcing the Pentagon to issue new contracts. So far, there have been only isolated shortages, officials say. Roughly 90 percent of parts orders are being filled from existing stocks, according to Defense Department figures. Scarce items rush-ordered from suppliers include rivets, electrical cable and strapping used to hold down pallets on military transport planes. Most orders are shipped by sea, but if a unit in the Mideast needs something in a hurry, it can turn to ``Desert Express\'\' - an emergency next-day delivery service the Air Force is running to Saudi Arabia from two U.S. bases. To date, ``Desert Express\'\' cargo has mostly been parts in short supply for tanks and planes, particularly Vietnam-era F4-G ``Wild Weasel\'\' anti-radar jets. The overall air leg of the supply line, operated by the Military Airlift Command, has made nearly 7,000 missions to the Mideast since August, carrying more than 200,000 passengers and 480 million pounds of cargo. The Navy\'s Sealift Command has delivered 28 billion pounds of dry cargo and nearly 6 billion pounds of fuel. As it orders more food, the Pentagon is trying to spice up the menu as a morale booster. That initiative meant a $44.6 million contract to George A. Hormel and Co. for sukiyaki, pot roast, spaghetti, lasagna and other dinners, and a $20.8 million deal for Dial Corp. for beef stew, chili, macaroni and cheese and other lunches. Other big beneficiaries are the Pentagon\'s clothing suppliers, who are rushing production of uniforms, the new line of desert boots and chemical protective clothing. Overall, more than 83,000 requisitions for $411 million in clothing have been processed for Operation Desert Shield.\r\n'),(2021,2,'Researchers who studied ancient Chinese chronicles of solar eclipses found that a day is now seven hundredths of a second longer than it was nearly 4,000 years ago because the Earth is spinning more slowly. The length of a day ``just keeps getting longer and longer,\'\' said Kevin Pang, who conducted the study as an astronomer at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration\'s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Just as a spinning ice skater slows down by extending her arms, Earth\'s rotation on its axis slows as tidal interactions make the moon orbit Earth more quickly and become more distant from it, he said Wednesday. ``Four billion years ago, the moon was only one-third as far away as it is now, and the day was only eight hours long at the time,\'\' said Pang, whose study will be published soon in the British journal Vistas in Astronomy. Pang and his co-authors determined that, compared to today, the length of a day was 2.2 hundredths of a second shorter in A.D. 532, 4.2 hundredths of a second shorter in 899 B.C., and seven hundredths of a second shorter in 1876 B.C. Other studies have shown Earth\'s rotation varies slightly over time because the oceans and atmosphere produce drag on the planet\'s topography, and because molten rock within the Earth sloshes against solid rock to produce a similar drag. Knowing how Earth\'s rotation rate changes ``helps you understand things like the interaction between the ocean, solid Earth and atmosphere, and tells you something about the interior of the Earth,\'\' Pang said. While ancient Chinese annals report thousands of eclipses, the researchers limited themselves to those that occurred at sunrise or sunset, allowing them to compute the time of the eclipses. Knowing the times, along with the fact the eclipses were visible from China, the scientists were able to calculate how much Earth\'s rotation has slowed since the dates the eclipses occurred. For example, had the day always been 24 hours long, the 899 B.C. eclipse would have been seen in the Middle East instead of China, Pang explained. Pang\'s calculations of the rate at which Earth\'s rotation is slowing are consistent with previous studies, but extend further back in time. The oldest Arabian and Babylonian records of solar eclipses date to about 700 B.C. Pang\'s findings on the 899 B.C. eclipse first were reported in early 1987. In that study, he and his colleagues studied ancient Chinese chronicles, called the Bamboo Annals, which mentioned a time when ``the day dawned twice.\'\' By performing a computer simulation of the history of the Earth\'s rotation around the sun, they determined the phrase meant that the moon eclipsed the sun just after dawn on April 21, 899 B.C. That let them figure out the Earth\'s rotation rate at the time. In the new NASA-funded study, they were able to compute the time of the 532 and the 1876 B.C. eclipses. Some people incorrectly assume Earth\'s gravity pulls the moon closer to Earth, but that is not the case, Pang said.\r\n'),(2022,2,'Heavyweight champion James ``Buster\'\' Douglas recalled his family\'s struggle with poverty as he urged congressional support for a program to help the poor pay heating bills. The 232-pound boxer was the first witness Thursday before a Labor and Human Resources subcommittee. Wearing a starched white shirt and a black suit with a white hankerchief in the lapel, he read a two-page statement and answered questions from panelists. Douglas did not mention the Bush administration\'s proposed 25 percent cut for the 1991 fiscal year in the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, which served 5.9 million households last year. Instead, he gave the Subcommittee on Children, Families, Drugs and Alcoholism a personal account of poverty in his hometown of Columbus, Ohio, and ended with a plea to ``do everything you can.\'\' ``I was 15 and we had a pretty terrible winter that year and we were behind on our gas bill,\'\' he said. A local aid program helped get the family through. ``I think that that had a great deal to do with me becoming heavyweight champion of the world,\'\' he said. ``In hard times, we had support.\'\'\r\n'),(2023,2,'A policeman who was supposed to be dead turned up alive and was arrested along with his wife and son after they tried to collect $5,400 in benefits, the United News of India said Sunday. The news agency reported that Constable Ganesh Singh, from the town of Balaghat in Madhya Pradesh state, went on leave two weeks before his retirement June 1. A few days later, his son told authorities Singh had died of a heart attack. A sum of 70,000 rupees, about $5,400, was granted to the constable\'s family because the man died in service. But before his family was able to cash in, a police officer spotted Singh strolling around the Balaghat railway station. The constable confessed he, his wife and son had plotted his ``death\'\' because benefits for a policeman dying in service were higher than normal retirement pensions.\r\n'),(2024,2,'George Bush is looking to a powerful ally on Pennsylvania Avenue for help in seeing that his most valuable campaign asset, the current 65-month economic recovery, will last at least until Election Day. The ally is not President Reagan but a political supporter who occupies the building next door, Treasury Secretary James A. Baker III. And some economists contend Baker may be giving the vice president more than just advice. Treasury officials won\'t comment on the speculation, but some economists point to recent activity in international markets as evidence that Baker has been leaning hard on major U.S. trading partners to help elect Bush and other Republicans. These actions include recent intervention in currency markets by other central banks and heavy foreign purchases of U.S. Treasury securities, particularly by Japanese investors _ measures that can help stabilize the shaky dollar, minimize inflation and help keep the economy on an even keel. A leading proponent of such a view is David Hale, chief economist of Kemper Financial Services in Chicago. He cites the spending of huge sums by Japan and other countries to stabilize the dollar, at prices higher than investors are willing to pay, as a form of ``political insurance\'\' for Bush. Foreign allies ``don\'t want to see a big discontinuity in U.S. economic policies. It\'s not so much that they\'re against Dukakis and for Bush. They just want stability in the United States in an election year,\'\' Hale said in an interview. ``Two years ago, Washington wanted a lower dollar. Now Washington wants a strong dollar, at least until the election. Because Baker is fearful that a dollar decline could lead to another stock market crash,\'\' Hale said. Although a weak dollar can help ease the trade deficit by making U.S. goods more competitive, it can also reignite inflation and drive foreign investors away from Treasury securities and other dollar-based investments, threatening the financing of the government\'s huge budget deficit. Foreign-exchange reserves held by the world\'s central banks last year grew to $790 billion from $559 billion, and Hale estimates that two-thirds of this increase comes from efforts by central banks to support the dollar. The Bank of Japan reportedly has earmarked another $60 billion to spend this year to help prop up the dollar against the yen, after expanding its foreign-exchange holdings by $40 billion in 1987. At the same time, foreign investors have become the single largest buyer of Treasury securities. This helps underwrite the U.S. budget deficit, since selling Treasury bonds and bills is the government\'s primary way of financing its red ink spending. Analysts estimate that Japanese investors alone bought as much as half of last week\'s sale of $8.5 billion in new 30-year Treasury bonds. Analysts have speculated that the government of Japan persuaded them to do so, perhaps as a favor to Baker. If Japanese and other foreign investors were to withdraw their stake in Treasury securities, interest rates would be forced up sharply, possibly triggering a recession. An economic downturn at this point could spell disaster for Bush\'s presidential efforts. And while most economists don\'t see a recession likely in the months ahead, many forecasters are expressing new fears about an escalation in both inflation and interest rates. Bush has been wielding the recovery _ a peacetime record _ as a major campaign weapon. While he scoffed at Reagan\'s policies as ``voodoo economics\'\' in 1980, he now regularly extols them on campaign stops as the ``American miracle.\'\' The similarity in phrasing to the ``Massachusetts miracle\'\' trumpeted by Democratic front-runner Michael Dukakis is no coincidence. Bush strategists claim the vice president will launch a major assault on Dukakis\' claim after the party conventions this summer, seeking to demonstrate that the job-creation claimed by Dukakis as governor is merely an outgrowth of Reagan-Bush economic policies. However, for the strategy to work, the economy must continue to perform vigorously in the months to come. Last week\'s report that the U.S. trade deficit shrank by $4 billion between February and March provided some needed market-driven stimulus to the ailing dollar. However stock and bond markets slumped as investors worried that rising U.S. exports without an accompanying reduction in imports could fan inflation. Baker is an early Bush supporter and is expected at some point to assume a key role in managing Bush\'s general election campaign. Baker said Thursday, ``For now I\'m staying at the Treasury Department.\'\' Bush lieutenants have suggested that, at least for the time being, Baker may be more useful to Bush there. ``It may be more prudent to seek his advice as a Cabinet member\'\' rather than bringing him into the campaign, said Bush\'s staff chief Craig Fuller. Treasury officials refused to comment on allegations that Baker was using his influence to try to persuade Japanese, West German and other governments to take steps that would promote an economic environment conducive to a Bush victory. But one official, who demanded anonymity, said that trying to keep the United States out of a recession does not exactly run contrary to Baker\'s role as Treasury secretary _ regardless of which candidate it might help.\r\n'),(2025,2,'Kevin Locke said Wednesday that he\'s trying to preserve an ancient Sioux tradition - the courting flute. The 36-year-old musician, storyteller and Plains hoop dancer, is one of 13 folk artists receiving $5,000 awards this year from the National Endowment for the Arts for their success in preserving the nation\'s heritage. The artists - including a mariachi band, a Michigan accordionist, a cowboy poet from Montana and a Hawaiian lei maker - gathered for a congressional reception at a Senate office building. They were selected from 197 people nominated for the national grant by their peers. The NEA has been making the awards since 1982. ``America\'s deep and varied traditional heritage is one of this nation\'s greatest treasures,\'\' said NEA Chairman John Frohnmayer. Locke carried the flute, a long wooden recorder fashioned from cedar with the mouthpiece made into the head of a bird, wrapped in cloth in a long leather tube slung across his shoulder. Locke was raised on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation in South Dakota by an elderly uncle who spoke only Lakota and learned the traditional courting songs from elders. By the 1960s, the tradition of the Plains and Woodlands Indian courting flute had been all but lost as the last musicians with the skill died off without passing it to a new generation. ``It is an important role,\'\' said Locke, who\'s working on a doctoral degree in education at the University of South Dakota. ``I see that they are a bridge between our ancestors and the people of today.\'\' The other artists honored were: Howard Armstrong, an Afro-American string band musician in Detroit; Natividad Cano, a mariachi musician from Monterey Park, Calif.; Giuseppe and Raffaela DeFranco, southern Italian musicians and dancers from Belleville, N.J.; Bun Em, a Cambodian silk weaver from Harrisburg, Pa.; Maude Kegg, an Indian beadworker from Onamia, Minn.; Marie McDonald, the lei maker from Waimea, Hawaii; cowboy poet Wallace McRae from Forsyth, Mont.; Art Moilanen, a Finnish accordionist from Mass City, Mich.; woodcarver Emilio Rosado from Utuado, Puerto Rico; Robert Spicer, a Dickson, Tenn., square dancer; and Doug Wallin, a Marshall, N.C., ballad singer.\r\n'),(2026,2,'Relatives or guardians of brain-damaged people can order the removal of feeding tubes that keep them alive, the Florida Supreme Court said in a ruling hailed by ``right-to-die\'\' advocates. ``It reaffirms the rights of Floridians under our (state) constitution to make their own decisions about what will be done with their bodies,\'\' said Charlene Carres, a Tallahassee attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union. Roman Catholics, anti-abortion groups and other opponents did not immediately respond, saying they needed more time to review the ruling. The decision focused on an elderly woman who died last summer. Estelle Browning spent the last 2{ years of her life hooked up to feeding tubes that she had specified in a ``living will\'\' she didn\'t want. Mrs. Browning suffered permanent brain damage in a stroke and was left in a persistent vegetative state, unable to swallow or communicate. She was not comatose. Doris Herbert, Mrs. Browning\'s second cousin and only living relative, was named her guardian. Herbert sought permission to remove the tubes in 1988. The state fought the request and a trial court denied it, but a state appeals court said the Florida Constitution allowed for removal of the tubes and the issue was reviewed by the Supreme Court. ``We hold that, because Mrs. Browning was unable to exercise her constitutional right of privacy by reason of her medical condition, her guardian was authorized to exercise it for her,\'\' Justice Rosemary Barkett wrote. When people take ``the time and trouble\'\' to write ``living wills,\'\' express their wishes orally or appoint health-care surrogates, there\'s no need to go before a judge to get permission to carry out their wishes, the court ruled. Patricia Dore, a law professor at Florida State University who drafted the privacy clause added to the state constitution in 1980, said it was significant that the justices ruled there was no legal distinction between food and water supplied through tubes and other medical treatments, like respirators. Although it has no direct impact outside Florida, attorneys and advocates said other state courts could be influenced by the case. ``I think many, many state courts look to Florida for guidance on issues that affect the elderly,\'\' said George Felos, an attorney who represented Herbert. Florida\'s high court heard oral arguments in the case in January. Six months later, the U.S. Supreme Court said a Missouri couple could not order the removal of food and water keeping their 32-year-old comatose daughter alive. The daughter, Nancy Cruzan, had not left a living will. Her parents said they were certain she would prefer to die rather than live in a coma. In its split decision, the nation\'s high court said competent people have a right to refuse medical treatment.\r\n'),(2027,2,'Five OPEC oil ministers will meet their counterparts from independent oil-producing countries April 26 in efforts to stabilize sagging oil prices, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries reported. An employee of OPEC\'s information secretariat said Monday both the meeting with non-OPEC countries and a subsequent extraordinary meeting of oil ministers from all 13 OPEC countries will take place at the group\'s headquarters. The second meeting will take place on April 28. Each session was originally planned for three days earlier. No reason was given Monday for the change. After five OPEC oil ministers met here on April 9, OPEC President Rilwanu Lukman, who is also Nigeria\'s oil minister, announced the upcoming talks to consider halting an oil price slide. Lukman and the oil ministers of Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Venezuela and Indonesia have invited at least seven non-OPEC oil producing nations to meet them on April 26. Big producers such as the Soviet Union, Britain and Norway are unlikely to be represented. According to the Nicosia, Cyprus,-based Middle East Economic Survey, an influential weekly specializing in oil, the seven nations were Mexico, Oman, Egypt, China, Colombia, Malaysia and Angola.\r\n'),(2028,2,'``I\'m a documentary producer,\'\' says Jeff Harmon. ``What I do is document history.\'\' During the war in Afghanistan, he did it the hard way _ with one program about the rebels, then another about the Soviet troops. On Sunday, Ted Turner\'s TBS Superstation, which aired Harmon\'s first show in 1986 and the other in December, is repeating the second, ``Afghanistan: The Soviet Experience.\'\' Vietnam vets in particular might find some of its scenes eerily familiar. There\'s no triple canopy jungle, to be sure. But there are the contour-flying helicopters, the door gunners watching the ground, the dusty hill outposts resupplied by chopper and the convoy-guarding armored personnel carrier rolling along, its young driver listening to Western rock on his boombox. Another deja vu moment, in a Kabul hospital: The wounded Soviet grunt who, according to the show\'s English translation, complains that in this war, ``you can\'t understand who are the civilians and who are the enemies.\'\' The two programs _ the first is ``Afghanistan\'s Holy War\'\' _ were filmed three years apart and shown on TBS\' National Geographic Explorer series. Harmon, 36, was born in Los Angeles. Based in London, but ``living out of my suitcase now,\'\' he says he\'s ``basically self-educated,\'\' with a year logged at New York University\'s film school. He did his first Afghanistan war documentary out of plain curiosity: ``The image of these 19th century tribesmen battling a superpower intrigued the hell out of me. And I got sucked into the image and went.\'\' Bankrolled by the BBC, Harmon and cameraman Alexander Lindsay emulated other correspondents trying to cover the rebels after Soviet troops were sent to Afghanistan in 1979. The two slipped across the border from Pakistan in 1985. His aim, he says, was to show the war from the grunt-level perspective of the Soviet-fighting rebels, the mujahideen, ``the muj\'\' (pronounced ``mooj\'\'), as some Westerners call them. ``I don\'t go in with a correspondent or make myself a correspondent,\'\' he says. ``I tell the story of the people I\'m covering. I do it through their eyes. ... I don\'t whitewash anything. I don\'t take a partisan view.\'\' Indeed, he says, some rebel political leaders got upset at his documentary about the rebel troops, including what the troops thought of their leaders and ``their real way of life,\'\' including that some smoked hashish. The leaders considered all that bad for the rebel image, says Harmon. His opinion of them isn\'t kind: ``They were like World War I generals. To them, their men ... out on the front lines, were cannon fodder.\'\' Harmon wanted to film the Soviet GIs\' side of the war, but didn\'t have high hopes. Having been with the rebels trying to kill them, he thought, would not exactly make him welcome, not even in the new era of Mikhail Gorbachev\'s glasnost easing access for Western journalists. To his surprise, he says, the Soviets granted him a visa when he sought to cover, for Britain\'s Independent Television News, the start of the Soviet troop withdrawal from Afghanistan in 1988. His theory is that Soviet officials had seen his earlier documentary and at least thought it honest. Visa in hand, he hurriedly called National Geographic officials in the United States, got the green light for a full-length documentary and, with cameraman Lindsay, went to work. He says he told Soviet officials in Kabul this: ``I\'m not going to make a propaganda film for you. But I\'m not going to do a hatchet job on you, either. All I want to do is show the war through the eyes of the ordinary Ivan.\'\' Word of the unusual travels fast in any army. Most Soviet grunts and helicopter pilots he met already knew he\'d covered the rebel side of the war, Harmon says. But he found little, if any, animosity toward him, he says: ``They were fascinated by the fact we\'d covered the war on the other side. The soldiers, they were so curious, so `What was the enemy like?\' I think they looked at me as a chance to see what it was like on the other side.\'\' __ Elsewhere in television ... SAJAK\'S NEW LOOK _ THE SEQUEL: If you\'ve been watching CBS\' ``The Pat Sajak Show\'\' this week, you might have noticed yet more changes in the struggling late-night series, cut last month from 90 minutes to an hour. The show\'s couch is gone, replaced by two black leather chairs: one for Sajak, one for the guest. Other changes include new graphics and a roundtable discussion by guests near the close of the show. No word yet, though, on whether an ejection seat is planned for dull guests.\r\n'),(2029,2,'A federal judge today lifted his ban against Cable News Network\'s broadcast of Manuel Noriega\'s prison phone calls to his legal team. The ban on CNN\'s use of the tape had sparked a fierce constitutional debate, pitting the right of free speech against the right to a fair trial. ``The tapes may be published as CNN wishes to publish them,\'\' said U.S. District Judge William Hoeveler during a morning hearing. Noriega\'s attorney Frank Rubino said he no longer had any objection to CNN\'s use of the tapes. The only tape he challenged was a conversation between Noriega and his defense team which had already been broadcast by CNN. ``It does no good to close the barn door after the horse is out,\'\' Rubino said today. The judge also ordered the federal Bureau of Prisons to stop its practice of sharing tape-recorded conversations in the Noriega case with other government agencies. Hoeveler last month temporarily barred CNN from using parts of taped conversations between Noriega and his attorneys, who said airing the tapes would destroy the ousted Panamanian dictator\'s defense against drug charges. CNN broadcast some tapes, including a conversation between Noriega and Rubino\'s secretary, who acted as a translator for Rubino\'s investigator. An appeals court and the U.S. Supreme Court refused to lift the order, and CNN last week turned over the tapes it had obtained to Hoeveler for review. In Atlanta, CNN spokesman Steve Haworth said it was doubtful that CNN would broadcast any of the tapes today. Rubino, after the hearing, said he still intended to ask for contempt penalties against CNN for airing the tapes despite Hoeveler\'s order. Steven Korn, attorney for CNN parent Turner Broadcasting System Inc., said the network contended from the beginning that prior restraint was wrong. ``It\'s fizzled. No prior restraint is ever appropriate,\'\' Korn said outside the courtroom. He also said he considered the contempt issue moot. Korn emphasized the judge\'s order to the Bureau of Prisons, saying that was the correct approach to dealing with the taping of Noriega\'s phone calls. Noreiga, who is awaiting trial on charges of taking $4.6 million in payoffs to protect cocaine trade through Panama, is being held in a federal prison near Miami. Federal prison authorities monitor and tape record all inmates\' telephone conversations except those between inmates and their lawyers. The government has maintained that Noriega knew the calls were being taped and that the calls were not protected by the attorney-client privelege. Information from the Noriega tapes already is in the hands of at least one additional party, the government of Panama, according to an affidavit filed Tuesday by that nation\'s attorney in the United States, Gregory Craig. The affidavit sought to persuade another judge hearing Panama\'s $6.5 billion racketeering lawsuit against the deposed dictator to freeze all Noriega\'s assets. Craig refused to disclose how he obtained information about the taped conversations, but the affidavit appeared to include information not broadcast by CNN. Noriega\'s attorneys have alleged that the U.S. government made the tapes and supplied them to Panama, which in turn leaked them to CNN, but Craig refused to comment. The affidavit said tapes of Noriega\'s calls show that ``while in custody, he has been using the telephone for the purpose of moving assets wrongfully obtained by him that are the property of the republic of Panama.\'\' Noriega spoke on the tapes to his daughter Sandra Noriega, his mistress Vicki Amado, his mistress\'s mother and seven others, including former pro-Noriega presidential candidate Carlos Duque, the documents said. Noriega ``directed and continues to direct the movement of assets\'\' from Hong Kong, Israel, Singapore, Australia and Brazil; the funds were moved to banks in Europe as well as through Costa Rica to Panama, Craig said. Craig would not say how much money was involved in the taped conversations, but added, ``We\'ve said from the beginning that we think there is $300 million to $500 million of assets out there.\'\' Noriega\'s attorney in the civil case, Stephen Zukoff, disputed the legality of Craig\'s affidavit during hearing Tuesday before U.S. District Judge Edward Davis, who is presiding over the civil case. ``I don\'t know where he\'s getting his information from - he certainly should have identified it,\'\' Zukoff said. He said he could not discuss whether the information was accurate without examining it further. During the hearing, John Kester, another attorney for Panama, noted the tapes appeared to show Noriega was moving money from one account to another while telling Hoeveler he had no assets and could not pay his attorneys. ``He can\'t have it both ways,\'\' Kester said. Hoeveler has said he will appoint government-paid defense attorneys if the fee dispute is not settled soon.\r\n'),(2030,2,'James G. Radakovich liked to dance with his wife at the local Serbian club and take care of his Cadillac and his yard, said those who knew him. No one knows what led to the shootings Saturday that claimed the life of Radakovich, his wife and their sons, both college students. Police say Radakovich shot them dead and then himself. ``You never know what goes on inside a family,\'\' said Richard Grilli, a neighbor. ``Something happened. He just cracked up,\'\' said Joseph Bergamasco, a police officer in this working-class Pittsburgh suburb. Mary Radakovich, 57, was found on the livingroom floor. One son, James L., 21, was in his bed, and Paul, 19, was on the floor of their bedroom. Radakovich, 54, a retired steelworker, died of a single gunshot wound in the head and was found beside his younger son, authorities said. He had two notes in a pocket of his pajamas, one a will, the other burial instructions. ``The note said he was sorry for what he is doing, but possibly they would all be better off wherever they were going. But it gave no reason,\'\' said Bergamasco. Investigators found no signs of struggle. ``Whether he was depressed, I don\'t know, but he didn\'t show it,\'\' said Samuel Budich, Mrs. Radakovich\'s brother. ``He was always a good husband to my sister,\'\' Budich said. ``Two weeks ago he was dancing the `colo\' down at the Narodi Dom.\'\' The deaths were discovered after James\' girlfriend alerted her father that all three family cars were parked at the home but no one was answering the door. Police found two .22-caliber pistols, a revolver and an automatic. Radakovich was laid off from the Homestead Works of USX Corp. two years ago, and had a good pension, relatives said. He caddied at the Oakmont Country Club for extra money. ``He took up golf when he was laid off,\'\' said Grilli. ``He\'d have a beer now and then, but I never saw him drunk. He took care of his house and his lawn. He was nice, quiet.\'\'\r\n'),(2031,2,'A Roman Catholic bishops\' organization said Wednesday it had asked the Bush administration to make sure the trade embargo against Iraq does not cover essential food and medicine for civilians. ``The moral justification for our intervention requires that we maintain the distinction between the Iraqi regime and ordinary and vulnerable Iraqi citizens,\'\' said a letter to Secretary of State James A. Baker III from the chairman of the U.S. Catholic Bishops\'s Committe on International policy. ``We urge that in the implementation of the embargo and other sanctions against Iraq the utmost care and sensitivity be exercised so that innocent civilians are not deprived of those essentials for the maintenance of life, i.e., food and medicines,\'\' wrote the committee chairman, Archbishop Roger M. Mahony of Los Angeles. A United Nations sanctions committee could not agree on what kind of food aid to allow into Iraq and occupied Kuwait. Most of the delegates want to allow shipments only to foreigners and children, while Cuba and Yemen called for a broader resolution allowing in food to all civilians. Bush has said the United States favors ``humanitarian\'\' food and medical shipments but has not spelled out what that should mean.\r\n'),(2032,2,'The U.S. Navy sought Thursday to assure the public that the aircraft carrier Midway was safe after two explosions on board killed two crew members and seriously injured nine. ``The safety of the ship was never in jeopardy,\'\' Rear Adm. Lyle Bull, commander of the Battle Force 7th Fleet, told reporters escorted aboard the ship a day after the fire. Japan, the only country to experience nuclear attack, asked the U.S. military to improve its safety practices. Yokosuka officials had demanded assurances of the 45-year-old carrier\'s safety before its return. Demonstrators charged the ship was carrying nuclear weapons into its home port at Yokosuka despite a Japanese ban. The United States refuses to comment on the location of its nuclear weapons. About 50 protesters chanting ``Don\'t let the Midway land here\'\' and ``Nuclear Ship Get Out\'\' assembled outside the Navy base gate about an hour before the 67,000-ton ship moored at Yokosuka, 28 miles southwest of Tokyo. Eight of the demonstrators wore sashes identifying them as victims of the U.S. atomic bombings of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. Navy officials allowed relatives of the crew onto the ship before reporters were taken aboard. ``Midway is safe and seaworthy in all respects,\'\' Bull said, stressing that there was no danger to the ship\'s weapons systems from the explosions. Bull said the first explosion occurred shortly after noon Wednesday when a fire-fighting crew investigating smoke opened the hatch to a 12-by-12-foot emergency equipment storeroom six decks below the flight deck. ``Death most probably was instantaneous\'\' for the two sailors killed in the blast, he said. In addition to the nine seriously injured, who were flown to hospitals ashore, seven other injured crewmen were treated on the ship. The second explosion came 45 minutes later, Bull said. Earlier, Navy officials said there was a fire in the room. Bull said there were explosions, burn injuries, smoke and intense heat, but not necessarily a fire. The room was near a pipe for the ship\'s catapult system containing pressurized steam at 850 degrees and ``water sprayed on the bulkhead turned to steam, that\'s how hot it was,\'\' he said. One unidentified crew member interviewed on Japanese television said a fuel pipe near the steam line cracked and leaked fuel, which then ignited. Navy officials said they could not comment until an investigation is complete. Capt. Arthur K. Cebrowski said about 1,000 sailors worked through the night to secure the area and flood it with water and foam and provide support. The bodies were found early Thursday, he said. In Washington, the Pentagon identified the two dead sailors as Ulric Patrick Johnson of Martinez, Calif., and Jeffrey Allan Vierra of Nevada City, Calif. The Midway carries a crew of 4,500 and 62 aircraft. The 1,000-foot carrier was commissioned in 1945 and is the Navy\'s oldest in active service, although it has been extensively modernized. The explosions occurred as the ship participated in a joint exercise 125 miles northeast of Yokosuka with the Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force. Navy officials said the exercise would continue without the Midway. In Japan many people have misgivings about the presence of 50,000 U.S. troops and U.S. armaments here. The Midway fire was the second serious Navy accident since a series of incidents last fall killed 14 people.\r\n'),(2033,2,'The chairman of a House panel studying the health of the nation\'s $1.7 trillion pension system praised a Labor Department proposal designed to crack down on fraud and abuse in the system. Rep. Tom Lantos, D-Calif., who is chairman of the House Government Operations employment and housing subcommittee, called Labor Secretary Elizabeth Dole\'s plan ``prompt and inclusive.\'\' In the past, members of Congress have criticized the way the Labor Department policed the nation\'s pension system and suggested that fraud and abuse could rival the savings and loan crisis. The Labor Department\'s proposal, outlined last week in a letter to Lantos\' panel, increases fines for fraudulent transactions and makes it easier for employees to bring lawsuits against pension fund trustees who mismanage assets. It also provides rewards for people who inform the government of fund violations. Some of the changes stemmed from recommendations from acting Labor Department Inspector General Raymond Maria, who has been feuding with the agency over the way it investigates pension fraud. ``They went twice as far as we thought they would,\'\' Lisa Phillips, an aide to Lantos\' subcommittee, said Friday. Phillips predicted some lawmakers would try to go farther by adding provisions to provide greater protection of pension payments when companies terminate plans to capture their surplus assets. Labor Department spokeswoman Johanna Schneider said the agency would have to review further changes before taking a position. Under the department\'s plan, employees who win suits against trustees who mismanaged pension plans would have their legal fees paid by the trustees personally rather than through pension assets. In addition, the plan lets Mrs. Dole pay a ``bounty\'\' to informers of as much as 10 percent of any fines collected by the government for pension violations. Penalties for illegal transactions would increase to 10 percent of the amount of the transaction. Fines are now 5 percent of the transaction. The agency\'s plan also implements new audit procedures that require accountants to do a full audit of pension plans on their own rather than relying on the statements of state examiners. Mrs. Dole already has asked Congress to add 100 enforcement officers to the department\'s Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration. The Labor proposal does not include Maria\'s recommendation that the inspector general\'s office be allowed to pursue criminal investigations of pension and welfare fund violations. Maria wanted Congress to in effect overturn a Justice Department ruling that prohibited inspectors general from conducting criminal investigations. Phillips said the House subcommittee was not likely to go against the Labor Department on the issue because lawmakers considered it a ``turf war\'\' between the Justice Department and inspectors general. Maria had known he was not going to be named to the post permanently; President Bush last week nominated Julian De La Rosa, executive secretary of the St. Louis police board, as his replacement.\r\n'),(2034,2,'Fire raced through a refugee camp on the outskirts of Dhaka on Saturday and injured at least 80 people and left 17,000 homeless, police and fire officials said. A police officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the blaze wiped out most of the shanties in the camp at Mirpour, north of the city. The fire was believed caused by an electrical short-circuit. The camp housed Biharis awaiting resettlement in Pakistan. The Biharis, who are Moslems, originated in India but settled in the territory once known as East Pakistan. The territory became Bangladesh in 1971, after a war with Pakistan. Thousands of Biharis have been resettled in Pakistan, but nearly 250,000 remain in Bangladesh awaiting transfer. The resettlement program has been suspended for lack of funds. Nasim Khan, a leader of the Biharis, complained that there are often fires at the refugee camps because of poor construction. ``Our repeated requests to the concerned authorities to do something about it have produced no results,\'\' Khan said. He estimated it would cost $3 million to rebuild the camp and replace the families\' lost goods. There was no word on the conditions of those injured.\r\n'),(2035,2,'Here are some highlights of the catastrophic health insurance legislation approved Wednesday by a House-Senate conference committee: HOSPITAL _ Expands full coverage from maximum of 59 days a year to 364 days. A ``first-day\'\' deductible will continue to be required. DOCTOR BILLS _ Full payment of ``reasonable and proper\'\' doctor bills after an annual deductible is met. The deductible, yet to be precisely determined, will be from $1,320 and $1,400. Medicare continues to pay 80 percent of charges, with the 20 percent not now covered counting toward the annual deductible for the catastrophic benefit. DRUGS _ Medicare pays 50 percent of outpatient drug costs, after a $600 annual deductible, starting in 1991. Medicare pays 60 percent the following year and 80 percent in 1993 and thereafter, with the deductible to be indexed to rising drug costs. Medicare now has no across-the-board prescription drug coverage. COSTS _ To be paid solely by Medicare beneficaries. Current Part B premium of $24.80 to increase by about $4 a month in 1989. By 1993, the ``catastrophic\'\' monthly premium is projected at $10.20, in addition to whatever the regular Part B premium is at that time. More than 60 percent of total program costs are to be financed by an additional ``supplemental\'\' premium that is linked to federal income tax liability. The supplemental is estimated at $22 a year per $150 of tax liability in 1989, rising to $42 a year per $150 of tax liability in 1993.\r\n'),(2036,2,'The state Legislature passed a largely symbolic measure Tuesday aimed at ensuring women will be able to continue getting legal abortions until the fetus is able to live outside the womb. Gov. Judd Gregg said he would veto the bill. After a brief debate, the House voted 200-135 for the bill, passed by the House earlier and amended by the Senate. The margin was shy of the two-thirds that would be needed to override Gregg\'s promised veto. The key vote in the Senate last week, 14-10, also was short of a two-thirds margin. The bill may not reach Gregg until next week, but he repeated Tuesday that he\'ll veto it. Under the U.S. Supreme Court\'s 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision, abortion is legal and widely available in New Hampshire despite three 19th-century anti-abortion statutes that have not been enforced. The National Abortion Rights Action League considers the bill pro-choice advocates\' best chance for abortion rights legislation in the country this year. But Peg Dobbie, the group\'s New Hampshire spokeswoman, said it would be a ``long shot\'\' for the Legislature to override a veto. Though not giving up hope, she said pro-choice advocates are now focusing on the November election. ``We plan to go out and elect more pro-choice legislators so we can be veto-proof,\'\' she said. The original House bill called for no restrictions on abortion until the 25th week of pregnancy. The Senate changed that to allow unrestricted abortion until the woman\'s doctor determined that the fetus could live outside the womb on its own. Both versions would allow abortions after fetal viability to protect the life or health of the mother or if the fetus has a life-threatening physical or congenital abnormality. Gregg believes the bill would foster ``doctor-shopping\'\' because doctors will differ on what constitutes viability, spokesman Brian Grip said. Gregg reiterated his stand that abortion should be limited to instances where the mother\'s life is in danger, there is a serious problem with the fetus or the pregnancy stemmed from rape or incest. State Rep. Thomas Gage, head of the Judiciary Committee, supported the amended bill, saying it set a ``medical standard in place of a political one ... rather than a hard line drawn in statute by black letter.\'\' But state Rep. Shawn Jasper said the medical community disagrees about when a fetus can survive outside a mother\'s womb and urged defeat of the bill. Elsewhere Tuesday: _In the Nebraska Legislature, anti-abortion lawmakers succeeded in keeping alive a proposal that would require a 24-hour waiting period before a woman has an abortion. They moved it to the second stage of floor consideration without allowing opportunity for amendment. _A Louisiana state senator introduced an anti-abortion bill that provides exceptions for saving the mother\'s life during birth, but allows no exceptions for cases of rape or incest. ``Just as being raped and becoming pregnant is a traumatic experience, so is aborting a child,\'\' said state Sen. Mike Cross. _In Minnesota, a second Senate committee rejected a measure that would prohibit most abortions in the state. The 1990 legislative session tentatively is scheduled to adjourn next week. _Voters in Ann Arbor, Mich., declared their university town a ``zone of reproductive freedom.\'\' Voters also approved on Monday a token $5 fine on abortion, should state or federal laws ever ban the procedure.\r\n'),(2037,2,'The Treasury Department plans to borrow $30 billion next week to replenish the government\'s coffers, although the auctions will not include any 30-year bonds. Every three months, the government holds three debt sales to finance the $2.6 trillion national debt. It normally sells three-year notes, 10-year notes and 30-year bonds. However, Treasury officials said Wednesday that the 30-year bond will not be part of next week\'s auction because President Reagan has not yet signed a tax bill with a provision needed to give the government authority to issue any more such bonds. William Bremner, deputy assistant treasury secretary for finance, said the tax bill, which cleared Congress right before adjournment, has not yet reached Reagan\'s desk. He said if the president does get the measure in the next few weeks, the Treasury will auction a new batch of 30-year bonds totaling $9 billion later this month or in early December. If the Treasury does not get the authority, Bremner said the government will offer a second short-term debt instrument known as a cash-management bill. The auctions for next week call for: _$9.5 billion in three-year notes in minimum denominations of $5,000 to be auctioned Wednesday. _$9.5 billion in 10-year notes in minimum denominations of $5,000 to be auctioned Thursday. _$11 billion in a 37-day cash management bill to be auctioned Thursday in minimum amounts of $1 million. These bills are purchased by security houses.\r\n'),(2038,2,'Pope John Paul II on Thursday met with a U.S. archbishop who had been punished by the Vatican for permitting homosexual gatherings and for other liberal practices objectionable to the Holy See. Seattle Archbishop Raymond Hunthausen came to Rome to fulfill the requirement that bishops consult with the pope every five years and report on their dioceses. The Vatican\'s official bulletin listed the meeting without comment. Hunthausen could be not be reached for comment about his meeting with the pope. In 1985, the Vatican removed Hunthausen\'s authority in several major areas, after accusing him of being loose in granting marriage annulments and general absolution for sins as well as of allowing homosexuals to gather in church facilities. His authority was restored in 1987 and a coadjutor archbishop, Thomas Murphy, was named. While the disciplinary action was in force, an auxiliary bishop, Donald Wuerl, was assigned to wield the authority in those areas. While under discipline, Hunthausen denounced the split-authority arrangement as unworkable and humiliating. U.S. bishops, often at odds with the Vatican on such issues as sexuality, expressed dismay over the case. After Hunthausen\'s authority was restored, a three-member commission was appointed to work out remaining problems in the archdiocese.\r\n'),(2039,2,'Here are the unemployment rates for 11 major states released Friday by the Labor Department: -California, 6.0 percent, up from 5.9 percent in September. -Florida, 6.2 percent, up from 6.0 percent. -Illinois, 5.9 percent, down from 7.2 percent. -Massachusetts, 6.3 percent, up from 6.2 percent. -Michigan, 7.4 percent, up from 7.2 percent. -New Jersey, 5.5 percent, up from 5.2 percent. -New York, 5.6 percent, up from 5.5 percent. -North Carolina, 4.6 percent, up from 3.7 percent. -Ohio, 5.9 percent, up from 5.2 percent. -Pennsylvania, 6.1 percent, up from 5.5 percent. -Texas, 5.7 percent, down from 6.3 percent.\r\n'),(2040,2,'Secretary of State George Shultz said Thursday he was confident after talks with Philippines President Corazon Aquino that American military bases will remain in that country. ``The bases are very important to the Philippines and to the United States,\'\' Shultz said after a speech here on his way home from a 2{-week trip through Asia and the Pacific. The United States and the Philippines are reviewing the treaty for U.S. naval and air bases in the Philippines, which expires in 1991. The Aquino government has asked the United States to pay more than $180 million a year to renew the treaty. ``I believe it will come to a successful outcome, but we\'re still in the process so I can\'t say for sure,\'\' Shultz said of the negotiations. ``We\'re getting somewhere,\'\' he said. ``I\'m still bullish on the Philippines.\'\' Mrs. Aquino said last week she expects American and Filipino negotiators to complete their talks by the end of this month. The 41-year-old lease applies to Clark Air Base, Subic Naval Base and four smaller U.S. outposts. Both sides refused to reveal details of the negotiations. Shultz said the Philippines economy has improved in the two years since Mrs. Aquino took office, and that the U.S. bases and economic aid helped spur the growth. The country\'s growth rate after adjustment for inflation is about 7 percent this year, up from 5.5 percent last year, he said. Shultz made his comments after a speech at the East-West Center here, a research institute created by Congress and devoted to issues facing Asia and the Pacific. It was his first public appearance since returning to the United States early Wednesday from a trip to Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Hong Kong, China, South Korea, Japan and the Marshall Islands. He is to return to Washington Friday. While Shultz hailed improved relations between the United States and the Soviet Union, saying they could have a ``ripple effect\'\' on other adversarial nations, he said Moscow was sending confusing signals in Asia and the Pacific. ``We have to wait and see,\'\' he said. ``I don\'t see why right now is the time for the Soviet Union to supply North Korea with new surface-to-air missiles. ... What\'s the message?\'\' Both the United States and the Soviet Union have pledged to help minimize conflicts between North and South Korea during the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, South Korea in September. About 75 people waving banners that said ``Stop U.S. Intervention in Central America\'\' protested Shultz\'s appearance, yelling ``U.S.-C.I.A. out of Central America,\'\' as police escorted his entourage after the talk. Shultz did not mention Central America in his speech or his answers to screened questions from the invited audience of 630 people.\r\n'),(2041,2,'Here is a list of recommendations for computer users for virus prevention and control. It was drafted by the National LAN Laboratory in Reston, Va., and approved this week by more than 60 companies: 1. All software should be purchased from known, reputable sources. 2. All purchased software should be in its original shrink wrap or sealed diskette containers when received. 3. Back-up copies of all original software should be made as soon as the software package is opened. Back-up copies should be stored off-site. 4. All software should be reviewed carefully, by a system manager, before it is installed on a computer network. 6. New software should be quarantined on an isolated computer. This testing will greatly reduce the risk of system virus contamination. 7. A back-up copy of all system software and data should be made at least once a month, with the back-up copy stored for at least one year before re-use. This will allow restoration of a system that has been contaminated by a ``time-released\'\' virus. A plan that includes ``grandfathered\'\' rotation of back-up copies will reduce risk even further. 8. System administrators should restrict access to system programs and data on a ``need-to-use\'\' basis. This isolates problems, protects critical applications, and aids problem diagnosis. 9. All programs on a system should be checked regularly for program length changes. Any program-length deviations could be evidence of tampering, or virus infiltration. 10. Many shared or free programs are invaluable. However, these are the prime entry point for viruses. Skeptical review of such programs is prudent. Also, extended quarantine is essential before these programs are introduced to a computer system. 11. Any software that exhibits symptoms of possible virus contamination should be removed immediately. System managers should develop plans for quick removal of all copies of a suspect program, and immediate backup of all related data. These plans should be made known to all users, and tested and reviewed periodically.\r\n'),(2042,2,'Pilot error in hazy conditions was ruled the probable cause of the plane crash last summer that killed U.S. Rep. Larkin Smith and his pilot, according to a federal report released Thursday. The National Transportation Safety Board report indicated that pilot Chuck Vierling, who was not rated to fly on instruments, probably lost control after encountering conditions that required them. Vierling, 58, of Gulfport had expressed concern about the haziness before leaving, the report said. Vierling had flown Smith, R-Miss., to Hattiesburg on Aug. 13. On the return flight to Gulfport, the Cessna 152 crashed into woods near New Augusta in southeastern Mississippi. The airplane was about 10 miles off course when it sheared off the top of a pine tree and crashed. Smith, 45, had represented the 5th Congressional District since January 1989.\r\n'),(2043,2,'Oil prices rebounded from steep losses earlier in the week, but traders attributed the change to short-term influences and to Saudi Arabia\'s denial that it was boosting production. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, the near-month contract for West Texas Intermediate crude rose 32 cents per barrel from its 21-month low to close Thursday at $14.76. Among refined products traded on the exchange, wholesale unleaded gasoline rose .06 cent a gallon to 50.54 cents, and No. 2 heating oil rose .77 cent a gallon to 40.91 cents. Douglas R. Peterson, a broker at E.D.&F. Man International Futures Inc. in New York, called it a short-covering rally, meaning the rise was caused by speculators who purchased oil to cover borrowed contracts that they had sold earlier. Short-covering is an internal market influence that causes brief price rises. Others attributed the advance to official Saudi denials of expanded production by the world\'s largest oil exporter. There have been repeated reports that Saudi Arabia and its key Arab allies in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries are sharply raising output in reaction to widespread quota cheating by other OPEC members. These reports have played a major role in the oil market\'s recent decline. Other rumors circulating in the market suggested the Saudis were selling more oil to pay for their multibillion-dollar weapons deal with Britain. The Saudi Press Agency said the country was the victim of an ``artificial information campaign ... by oil brokers and their agents in the market.\'\' ``The kingdom strongly denies the truth of such charges and wishes to reaffirm its full commitment to its assigned level of production by OPEC,\'\' the statement read.\r\n'),(2044,2,'A nuclear reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, site of a disastrous 1986 explosion, was shut down Monday because of a malfunction, Izvestia reported. The government newspaper, in a report attributed to Nikolai Shteinberg, deputy chairman of the State Committee for Nuclear Power Station Safety, said the staff of Reactor No. 3 shut down the unit ``in keeping with operational rules.\'\' ``Established safety standards were not violated,\'\' the newspaper said. It gave no further details on the malfunction. It was Chernobyl\'s Reactor No. 4 that caught fire and exploded on April 26, 1986, spewing radioactive cesium, strontium and plutonium over a wide area of the Ukraine, Byelorussia and Russia. Official reports say 31 people were killed in the partial meltdown, but unofficial reports say 250 died. Four years after the accident, more than 2 million people are still living on contaminated lands in the region.\r\n'),(2045,2,'The investigation into the theft of a coat and hat was only a day old when the prime suspect, wearing his booty, waltzed into police headquarters and the arms of the law. Randolph Ferland, 53, stopped Wednesday at the police station in this west-central Connecticut town to use the bathroom, but was arrested after an alert police captain realized Ferland and his outfit matched witnesses\' descriptions. The crime drama began Tuesday night when someone sneaked into the Lutheran Church of Cheshire, and stole a winter coat and knit hat from a closet. A few church members got a glimpse of the man, and described him to police. Police Capt. Gary Walberg said he was reading a report on the theft Wednesday when he happened to peer out of his office and saw the man described in the report _ jacket, hat and all. ``He matched the description to a T,\'\' Walberg said. The only thing missing was the victim to identify the coat Ferland was wearing as the one that had been taken. As that thought crossed Walberg\'s mind, the victim walked into the police station to see if the coat had been found. It had. After spending most of the day in jail, Ferland pleaded guilty in Meriden Superior Court to sixth-degree larceny by possession. A judge released him for time already served.\r\n'),(2046,2,'An American photographer stood trial Saturday on drug smuggling charges and testified that his only crime was being stupid enough to let a cocaine ring dupe him into doing its dirty work. The trial of 23-year-old Conan Owen, whose case has drawn the attention of Attorney General Edwin Meese III, began and ended Saturday. The three-judge panel that took testimony for 2{ hours wasn\'t expected to issue a verdict for about a week. The free-lance photographer from Annandale, Va., is charged with smuggling 4.13 pounds of cocaine into Spain in a suitcase on March 13, 1987. James Kibble, a special agent for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, testified that Owen was tricked by a drug trafficking ring into carrying the cocaine. Owen, he said, is ``innocent _ or stupid _ but innocent.\'\' The prosecution is asking for 10 years in prison on contraband charges and on charges Owen violated public health laws that prohibit the transport or sale of dangerous drugs. The defense contends Owen thought the suitcase only contained travel brochures, photographs and film. Owen, a 1986 graduate of Syracuse University and a former summer intern in Vice President George Bush\'s office, has spent the past year in Barcelona\'s 85-year-old Model Prison without possibility of bail. He told the court Saturday that he carried a suitcase to Barcelona from Santiago, Chile, for George Barahona, an Equadorean-born naturalized American who was living near Washington, D.C. Owen said Barahona represented himself as one of the owners of the Sorosa Travel Agency near Washington, D.C. and offered him $1,000 to take travel brochure pictures in Spain. Owen said Barahona gave him a suitcase to take with him, which he believed to contain the brochures and film. The suitcase contained $200,000 in cocaine. Owen told the court he had always obeyed the law and acknowledged he had been ``stupid _ but that is not a crime.\'\' Judge Jose Presencia Rubio, who heads a three-member panel hearing the case, refused to admit as evidence testimony about a polygraph test Owen took. Owen\'s lawyer, Ana Campa, said the test, administered by a DEA agent, indicates Owen was telling the truth when he said he knew nothing about the drug. Federal agents allege Barahona is part of a drug ring that moves cocaine from South America to Spain. On Feb. 5, Barahona pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to smuggle drugs in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va. He received a two-year suspended sentence after providing information that led to the indictment of three Spaniards and three Bolivians in a conspiracy to smuggle illegal drugs. They remain at large. When Meese came to Spain to sign an annex to a 1970 extradition treaty Feb. 9, he handed over copies of Barahona\'s testimony to Spanish judicial authorities. Prosecutor Teresa Calvo called only two witnesses _ the paramilitary Civil Guard on duty at El Prat Airport who discovered the cocaine and the chemist who analyzed the drug as being 84 percent pure cocaine. Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin Williams of Alexandria, Va., testified for the defense that statements obtained from Barahona following the plea-bargain arrangement indicated Owen had unwittingly taken the cocaine-laden suitcase to Spain. ``He (Barahona) specifically told us that Conan Owen had no knowledge that there was cocaine in the suitcase he carried into Barcelona airport March 13,\'\' Williams said. Kibble, also testifying for the defense, said he became interested in the Owen case because Owen was from the Washington, D.C. area and the DEA was investigating a cocaine-smuggling ring that operated out of northern Virginia. ``I have found that there is a group of people involved in sending drugs from South America to Spain using unsuspecting people as carriers,\'\' Kibble testified. ``The DEA was interested in the details Conan Owen had to tell for the conspiracy case we were working on,\'\' he said. Owen wore a gray suit and stood with his hands clasped behind his back when addressing the court. He spoke in Spanish with occasional assistance from a court-appointed interpreter. His parents Ernest and Raquel Owen of Annandale, Va., sat directly behind him. His 25-year-old brother Evan was also present. According to the U.S. Embassy in Madrid, as of last month there were 25 U.S. citizens in jail in Spain. Six are serving prison terms following conviction on drug-related charges, and another eight, not including Owen, are awaiting trial. There are no jury trials in Spain, and courts generally take about a week to issue verdicts.\r\n'),(2047,2,'A federal judge approved a settlement Thursday that keeps the state from restricting abortions to women less than 18 weeks pregnant. U.S. District Judge John Nordberg agreed to the settlement between Illinois Attorney General Neil Hartigan and the American Civil Liberties Union. ``The court finds the proposed consent decree lawful, fair, reasonable and adequate,\'\' the judge wrote in the 13-page opinion. Anti-abortion groups opposed the settlement, calling it ``unconscionable and unconstitutional.\'\' Ragsdale vs. Turnock was settled Nov. 24, just days before the U.S. Supreme Court was scheduled to hear the case. It was one of several that anti-abortion groups had hoped would be used as a test case for the 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision legalizing abortion. The settlement permits the state to regulate abortion clinics without removing the availability of abortions to women who are less than 18 weeks pregnant. Under the agreement, access to abortions cannot be restricted by substantially increasing the cost of the procedure or reducing the number of clinics. The lawsuit was brought by Rockford physician Richard Ragsdale, who objected to regulations requiring abortion clinics to be equipped and staffed like small hospitals. He said the regulation was a veiled attempt to restrict access to abortions. One of the requirements deleted from the settlement mandated that patients receive counseling about birth control and adoption and that counselors be people who wouldn\'t profit from abortions. The settlement also eliminated a requirement that all abortion clinics go through a public hearing process and obtain a ``certificate of need\'\' from the state verifying that they do not duplicate similar services in their areas.\r\n'),(2048,2,'Both practicality and sentiment had a part in Annie Chervin\'s wedding dress choice. The Westchester County, N.Y., bride had her French vanilla silk gown made to order. It was a copy of a $3,000 dress that she tried on in an upscale department store but cost her less than half - $1,220. It had the same peau de soie bodice, off-the-shoulder neckline appliqued with satin rosettes and graceful skirt of four layers of tulle. ``Part of me wanted to buy the expensive dress,\'\' recalls Annie. Her future mother-in-law, Shiela Edwards, burst into tears when she saw Annie model it in the store. But the dress cost far more than Annie had planned on spending. So she sketched it from memory and had a dressmaker re-create it. In choosing this design, she followed a style that has long been popular among brides. The bridal dress with layered skirt of tulle or organza attached to a fitted plain or beaded bodice is an enduring style, says Rachel Leonard, fashion editor of Bride\'s Magazine. The bodice may have less ornamentation than it did in versions of earlier years. Another perennial is the sculptured cut, in which the shape and outline of the dress is its most important characteristic. There may be a peplum, or the dress may have an enormous ballgown skirt and a portrait neckline. Over the past few years, brides have been exercising more individuality in dressing as the number of available styles has increased. Leonard discerns two strong directions: Some brides dress daringly, while others choose the demure, covered-up styles of tradition. Well-known couture designers like Arnold Scaasi and Carolina Herrera have injected a sophisticated stylishness to many wedding dress designs. In the vanguard are very short dresses. These may have a detachable overskirt or train in longer lengths. Bare shoulders and low necklines, which once would have been unthinkable, now are often found in wedding dresses. Traditional lace has been re-emerging as a favored bridal dress material. And if the bride doesn\'t have an ancestor who obligingly left her an heirloom gown, she can shop for one in an antiques store. At least three stores in New York City carry old bridal dresses, and there are similar stores in other parts of the country, according to Leonard. The dresses usually have been cleaned and reconditioned and can be altered to fit. Ann Lawrence Antiques in New York, for example, stocks more than 500 antique dresses and new dresses constructed of antique materials. Lawrence says she sells dresses priced from $500 to $15,000 to brides all over the country. To find antique bridal dresses, she advises contacting the curator of a museum costume collection or a local antiques dealers\' association, who would be likely to know costume specialists who handle these dresses. It\'s often hard to tell how much a dress might have cost. Bride\'s Magazine says the average price paid for a bridal dress is $794. Prices can range from about $250 to $20,000. ``The best buys in terms of sophisticated styles, fine fabrics and hand detailing are found in dresses that cost between $1,200 to $1,600,\'\' says Leonard. Dresses under $700 are more likely to be informal in style and of synthetic rather than real silk. However, the bride won\'t have to sacrifice beading, which is being done inexpensively in the Far East. The choice and stylishness of bridesmaid\'s dresses has come a long way, too, says Leonard. Sheer fabrics in prints look appropriate with the light and airy wedding dresses which are popular now. ``Short is a big trend in bridesmaid\'s dresses, both because of the influence of shorter skirts in fashion generally and because it is a young and fresh look which most bridal attendants look good in,\'\' says Leonard. And these dresses usually can be worn again. Popular color choices are pink, which is flattering to most people, and blue. The black and white and all-white wedding color schemes continue to be popular. Matched outfits are still the rule if there are several bridesmaids, but anything goes in terms of style and color, says Gerard Monaghan, director of the Association of Bridal Consultants in New Milford, Conn. But considerations of the bridesmaid\'s figure type and complexion are more important than ditating an unbecoming style simply to match a theme, he says. And more bridesmaid\'s dresses are being bought off the rack in retail shops rather than from bridal specialists. Dresses worn by mothers of the bridal pair usually are coordinated to the wedding style and complement but do not match each other. Men\'s attire is geared toward the degree of formality and time of day. Elegance and appropriateness are the two most important considerations, according to Leonard. Novelty bow ties and vests are a way to give the groom and his attendants a personal signature. There\'s a trend to coordinate the men\'s cummerbunds and ties with the bridesmaids\' dresses. Often, the groom\'s attire is differentiated from his attendants\' by an unusual tie and cummerbund. Novelty fabrics such as shadow stripe or textured suiting are being used. And the cropped jacket known as a Spencer continues to be popular among younger men.\r\n'),(2049,2,'Sundstrand Corp., a major aerospace contractor, has agreed in principle to plead guilty to filing false statements with the government and pay $12.5 million for overcharging on military work, a newspaper reported. The proposed plea agreement covers allegations that the company\'s Seattle-based Sundstrand Data Control unit improperly included patent-litigation expenses in overhead costs on government military contracts, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday, quoting unidentified sources. Sundstrand said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it expected to face unspecified criminal charges in both Washington state and Illinois in connection with federal grand jury investigations of its accounting methods for handling government contracts and tax matters. ``The government has advised that it intends to charge the company with criminal violations in both districts,\'\' Sundstrand\'s filing stated. The document also reported that the company, Rockford\'s largest employer, was working on a settlement in one, and possibly both, of the actions. Federal charges could lead to the suspension of new government contracts for Sundstrand, which had $579 million in military sales in 1987. But if the company settled the dispute by paying ``materially adverse fines and penalties,\'\' it might be suspended only temporarily from new government business, according to Sundstrand\'s filing.\r\n'),(2050,2,'A move to impose energy taxes as a way of trimming the federal budget deficit would severely hurt farmers and small-town people, says the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association. Rural electric systems operate at cost and are owned by their customers, said Bob Bergland, executive vice president of the association. Any price increase caused by energy taxes would be paid by consumers. ``Rural consumers can\'t escape,\'\' Bergland said Tuesday. ``They are the equity owners of the electric systems which provide electricity to them.\'\' Bergland, who was secretary of agriculture in the Carter administration, joined natural gas and electric utility leaders to protest any move by the Bush administration to raise money by imposing new energy taxes. One type of tax that has been suggested would base the tax on the amount of carbon in the fuel. Coal, petroleum and natural gas would be taxed, but nuclear, hydroelectric and solar energy would not because they contain no carbon, an air pollutant. Still another plan would base the tax on the amount of energy, measured in British thermal units, or BTUs, that a fuel contains. The BTU tax would apply to all fuels. Bergland, whose member co-ops serve more than 25 million people, said the rural economy has ``taken severe shocks\'\' the last decade through droughts, floods, falling commodity prices, plummeting land price and a sharp decline in federal funding for rural areas. ``Energy taxes will unfairly penalize rural areas which already have higher electricity rates, either by driving up the price of fuel used to generate electricity or by taxing the selling price of electricity,\'\' he said. A joint statement protesting the use of energy taxes was signed by Bergland; George Lawrence, president of the American Gas Association; Tom Kuhn, president of the Edison Electric Institute; and Larry Hobart, executive director of the American Public Power Association. ``The burden of broad-based energy taxes will fall unevenly across consumers and income classes, among industries and across regions of the country,\'\' the statement said. ``This is unfair and inequitable taxation.\'\' BTU and carbon-content taxes were described as ``inherently regressive.\'\' Such taxes were said capable of raising at least $14 billion a year. ``Heating, lighting, cooking and water heating are not luxuries but essentials,\'\' the statement said. ``Lower-income families already pay three to four times more of their income for energy than the average American family.\'\'\r\n'),(2051,2,'A fine cast, which included a performer making his Metropolitan Opera debut, made ``Abduction from the Seraglio\'\' a musical and visual treat. James Levine conducted the Mozart comedy with dash on Monday night. Lars Magnusson, a principal lyric tenor with the Royal Opera in Stockholm, was making his U.S. opera debut as Pedrillo, servant of Belmonte, a Spanish nobleman. It\'s the role he sang for his 1987 debut at Covent Garden and will sing for his San Francisco Opera debut next season. He has an unusual light tenor voice. It doesn\'t get heavy but it does have character. It\'s as though it has been given a light layer of wood-grained baritone tonal quality, the way colored varnish might be brushed onto a light wood. It sounds right for David in ``Die Meistersinger,\'\' which was Magnusson\'s Paris Opera debut role. Stanford Olsen of Salt Lake City provided a good tenor contrast as Belmonte. Olsen sounded serious, his voice focused and seemingly ready to sing oratorio. Mariella Devia of Imperia, Italy, sang Konstanze, the young woman who has been captured by pirates and sold to the Pasha for his harem. Her maid, Blondchen, and Pedrillo are captives in the Pasha\'s residence _ seraglio _ with her. Miss Devia\'s singing was like a string of pearls, her tone sweet, each note carefully rounded and clear. Both she and Barbara Kilduff as Blonchen had coloratura passages and both sang them beautifully. Miss Kilduff\'s acting was more understated and less relentlessly pert than some who sing Blonchen. But Magnusson was more nimble than most who sing Pedrillo, so the balance of that pair of sweethearts was maintained. Bass Kurt Moll of Buir, Germany, was Osmin, the Pasha\'s overseer. He was the only one in the cast who sang his part when this production was introduced in 1979. Moll has a voice of depth and richness and he has added some effective bits of comedy to a portrayal that already was very funny. Nico Castel took the speaking part of the Pasha. He creates the happy ending after Osmin discovers the abduction attempt by wandering around and sticking his arm through the plotters\' ladder.\r\n'),(2052,2,'Five days after taking Alpo Petfoods Inc. off the market, an official of the parent company visited Alpo headquarters and ordered top management to move out. Ian A. Martin, who heads American operations for Grand Metropolitan PLC of Great Britain, Alpo\'s parent, broke the news Tuesday to Frank Krum, Alpo president and chief executive officer, and Willard H. Cressman, senior vice president of finance. Alpo\'s 1,500 employees were informed later that day that Krum, 56, was being replaced by Rob Hawthorne, 45, previously president and chief executive officer of Pillsbury Canada, also part of Grand Metropolitan. Industry analysts Wednesday attributed the move to the expensive promotional campaign to introduce Alpo\'s new cat food. Krum will serve as a special adviser to Martin on trade and industry relations. Cressman has elected not to stay with the company, a Grand Met spokeswoman said. Krum, Cressman and Hawthorne were unavailable for comment. The 54-year-old pet food company was put up for sale Feb. 8, when Grand Met Chairman Allen Sheppard decided it didn\'t fit into the conglomerate\'s plans to focus on its human foods business. Alpo spent $70 million in promotions and advertising for the introduction of its cat food this year, including the use of the cartoon character Garfield. Alpo, the sixth-largest pet-food maker in the United States, now holds 9 percent of the $1.3 billion canned cat food market and 5 percent of the $1.1 billion dry cat food market, analysts said. Alpo, which earned $45 million in 1989 on sales of about $400 million, expects cat food sales to top $100 million in 1990. Because of the rapid growth of its cat food sales, Alpo was pulled off the market May 24. Martin said Grand Met and potential buyers were ``not able to reach agreement as to the value of Alpo\'s recently launched cat food business.\'\'\r\n'),(2053,2,'A coroner who dropped a dead infant head-first onto the floor as part of his research into skull fractures is being sued by the child\'s parents for $2 million in a case that has divided doctors over such practices. Some coroners say such research has been carried out in morgues for years. Others say the permission of the next of kin should be required. In the trial, which began last month, District Judge Hugh Brunson must decide whether state law allows coroners to conduct experiments not needed to determine the cause of death and whether approval from relatives is needed. No state court has previously ruled on the issue. But state Assistant Attorney General Chuck Yeager said in an opinion last year that the law does not authorize such experiments without the permission of the next of kin. Dr. Charles Odom, a deputy coroner for Lafayette Parish in southern Louisiana, was fired by his boss, Coroner Robert P. Thompson, who found out about the experiment on 4-month-old Christina Arnaud and informed the parents. Dwayne and Ellen Arnaud are seeking damages for emotional suffering. The trial, which is being held in Lafayette, 95 miles west of New Orleans, is in recess but resumes in August. The baby died of sudden infant death syndrome in 1986, and an autopsy was performed by Odom the same day. Odom held the baby by the heels and dropped it onto a concrete floor. Findings from the experiment were later used in a manslaughter trial in Hawaii in which charges against a father accused of killing his child were dismissed. Odom, now an assistant medical examiner in Dallas, testified in the Hawaii trial that he believed the experiments on the infant and on another baby\'s corpse proved that children could die from skull fractures suffered during accidental falls from the arms of an adult. Testifying at the Lafayette trial, Odom said he regarded the experiment as proper and said such research is not uncommon. While the primary purpose of an autopsy is to determine the cause and manner of death, there is a secondary purpose _ ``to gain medical knowledge and use that medical knowledge in the service of the living,\'\' Odom said. Some doctors defended the practice. ``I think it\'s a good thing and a needed thing,\'\' said Dr. Terry Welke, Calcasieu Parish coroner. ``There\'s a lot of knowledge brought about by experimentation that is not allowed on the living. It\'s a good practice to allow it here.\'\' Odom and other medical examiners say that skin, bone, eyes, heart valves and kidneys are often removed from bodies and used elsewhere, with and without the knowledge of the family. Dr. Monroe Samuels, a medical examiner in Orleans Parish, said requests to experiment on corpses during autopsies are submitted regularly by medical schools and research centers in New Orleans. ``We would only do it if it did not deface or deform the body,\'\' he said. ``We do have requests for some surgical techniques, but those are only done with permission of the next of kin. We\'re not talking about ghoulish things like leaning on an arm to see how far it will go before it breaks or shooting a gun at it.\'\' Welke said that in his office, doctors have come in to practice techniques on cadavers before moving on to live patients. ``It\'s done basically because physicians are trying to enhance their knowledge,\'\' he said. ``If the practice is cut off, it would be a big problem.\'\' But Dr. Sylvan J. Manuel, St. Landry Parish coroner and president of the Louisiana Coroners Association, was one of a number of coroners who said they knew of no experimentation unrelated to the autopsy being done in Louisiana. ``I don\'t think any of us are doing it, or should do it,\'\' Manuel said. ``I don\'t think anything should be done without the permission of the family. If you\'re going to take something off the body _ a fingernail even _ you should have permission of the family.\'\' Jefferson Parish Coroner Robert Treuting testified that experiments such as the one conducted by Odom help doctors and researchers perfect operating techniques and find cures for illness. Treuting said orthopedists have practiced dissecting joints on cadavers awaiting autopsies, and researchers took some parts from a body to study hardening of the arteries. Pathologists have the right to do anything they want with the body, including keeping it, if there is a legitimate research reason, Treuting testified. But he said it would be callous for the survivors to be told of experiments because it would compound their anguish.\r\n'),(2054,2,'The Agriculture Department wants to hire a new editor for its single-sheet publication, Ag AM, which provides up to two dozen or so news blurbs daily for agency brass. Pay: $33,218 a year to start, with a top of $60,683. So far there have been 41 applicants, including some USDA information specialists who see an opportunity to boost their career prospects. The Ag AM report is issued five days a week, Monday through Friday, except on federal holidays, of course. Mostly it consists of single paragraphs summarizing stories from newspapers, wire services and news magazines. Ed Curran, who retired in 1984 after 20 years working for the department\'s Office of Information, was privy to the inside workings of Ag AM since it began during the Carter Administration. Now publisher of his own private newsletter, Curran offers a look at the history of the publication and how it grew. Someone in USDA thought the White House practice of providing President Carter with daily news summaries would be good for then-Agriculture Secretary Bob Bergland, Curran said in his latest issue. At first the daily summaries were sent only to the secretary and his office staff. But Bergland, who had read the news blurbs, ``began talking about things\'\' in the news that were not known to senior aides, including the deputy secretary and assistant secretaries. So the press run of Ag AM was increased, and the information office staffer who was responsible for its publication had to begin work earlier, by 6 a.m., for example, instead of the later regular starting time. ``By the time the Reagan administration came upon the scene, Ag AM was a staple at USDA,\'\' Curran said. Being on the offical list to get one was ``sort of like the government equivalent of a key to the executive washroom.\'\' The daily press run was increased to 100 copies, to take care of the demand from all the deputy assistant secretaries, administrators of agencies and staff economists. Meanwhile, the bureaucrats in the USDA\'s information office heard on the grapevine that Agriculture Secretary John R. Block ``was so smitten with Ag AM that he demanded copies to be telexed to him when he was on trips,\'\' Curran said. However, Block\'s successor, Richard E. Lyng, ``could care less\'\' about the news sheet, he added. ``One thing bureaucrats learn early in the game is that when something has the sweet smell of success about it, get behind it with all you\'ve got,\'\' Curran said. ``So, why not devote more time to Ag AM? Make it a full-time job.\'\' Curran wryly observed that the information office, meanwhile, scuttled its long-standing weekly Farm Paper Letter, which was ``the department\'s main contact with the nation\'s farm magazine editors and farm editors of its daily newspapers.\'\' Curran named his twice-monthly newsletter the Farm Paper Letter, after the publication he wrote during his 20-year USDA career. Today, 100 copies of Ag AM are delivered to Lyng\'s office area, alone, Curran said. In all, the press run is 350 copies a day. ``This from an outfit that\'s vowed to save us money,\'\' he said. Dave Lane, director of the Office of Information, told The Associated Press it may take some time to select a new full-time Ag AM editor (the previous editor died earlier this year). Was there any consideration given to canceling Ag AM? No, Lane said. Why not? ``I guess because of the ... importance of that publication to inform our top officials,\'\' he said. ``It\'s one of the most widely distributed of all the things that we put out.\'\' Besides the copies distributed within USDA here, the daily news blurbs are now sent electronically to universities, state agriculture departments and other government offices. The report is also available to private users of USDA\'s electronic information system.\r\n'),(2055,2,'Here is a list of convicted killers executed since the U.S. Supreme Court allowed states to restore the death penalty in 1976:\r\n'),(2056,2,'The stock market retreated today, giving up some of last week\'s gains. The Dow Jones average of 30 industrials, up more than six points at midmorning, was off 14.19 at 2,646.17 by 3 p.m. on Wall Street. The average climbed 96.17 points last week. Losers outnumbered gainers by about 4 to 3 in the overall tally of New York Stock Exchange-listed issues, with 630 up, 845 down and 478 unchanged. Analysts said recent hopes persisted that the economy might avert a recession and start growing at a revived rate as the year passed. But traders also appeared edgy over the interest-rate outlook, especially if business activity should pick up. Rates rose in early trading in the credit markets today. American Express fell 1~ to 27{ in active trading and Shearson Lehman Hutton was down | at 11~. Over the weekend American Express announced plans to reacquire the publicly held shares of Shearson through an exchange of stock. Other losers among the blue chips included American Telephone & Telegraph, down { at 39~; General Motors, down \\ at 45}; General Electric, down &rsqb; at 62, and Exxon, down \\ at 46{. The NYSE\'s composite index of all its listed common stocks dropped .93 to 184.04. At the American Stock Exchange, the market value index was up .19 at 356.31. Volume on the Big Board came to 115.97 million shares with an hour to go.\r\n'),(2057,2,'Four Hollywood unions spent $6.8 million on treatment for 138 AIDS patients by early this year, but a representative of producers and studios says the problem is no worse than in other industries. Nicholas Counter III, president of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, said Wednesday he was sure that the figures from union health insurance funds were ``understated\'\' because some AIDS insurance claims may be reported as related diseases rather than AIDS. Counter\'s remarks represent the first time anyone has attempted to compile statistics on the number of AIDS patients whose care is being paid by health insurance funds serving the entertainment industry\'s five major unions. But he dismissed fears that AIDS can be spread by casual contact, including on movie and television filming sets, and said he was convinced the deadly disease, which cripples the body\'s immune system, cannot be spread by so-called ``deep kissing\'\' by actors and actresses. ``I don\'t see that this problem is any worse or any less in our industry than in all industries,\'\' Counter said at a conference titled ``Managing AIDS at Work.\'\' He urged entertainment unions and companies to ``wage war on this disease on four fronts\'\' _ education, prevention, research and care. The insurer providing coverage for one of the industry\'s five funds _ the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) Health and Retirement Funds _ refused to provide statistics on the number of its 22,000 members who have AIDS or the cost of their care, said alliance government affairs specialist Dan Goldberg, who compiled the statistics for Counter. The 138 patients reported by mid-February and the $6,821,000 cost of caring for them represent statistics reported by insurance funds for the other four major Hollywood union health funds, Counter said. Scientists say acquired immune deficiency syndrome is spread by intimate sexual contact, the sharing of needles by intravenous drug abusers and when passed from mothers to their unborn children.\r\n'),(2058,2,'They could have been cremation pits, cock-fighting rings, animal pens, Civil War foxholes or secret hiding places for moonshine equipment. Maybe they were prehistoric Indian burial sites, charcoal pits or foundations for native American abodes. Or maybe, some say, the stone circles dotting the western slope of Polish Mountain encircled apple trees in the early 1900s. For more than a decade, 150 to 200 circles of sandstone rock have puzzled area residents and archaelogists. Virtually hidden by brush and poison ivy, the gray-colored rocks of various shapes and sizes are neatly arranged in circles. No one knows their purpose, or who put them there. ``Everybody that goes up there has some kind of weird theory,\'\' said John Mash, manager of Green Ridge State Forest, where the circles are found. ``One guy even mentioned that they could have been sweat lodges _ like a Turkish bath. ``The Indians would have these rituals when they would go into manhood,\'\' he said. ``They would go in these buildings with hot rocks and put water on them _ something like a sauna.\'\' But 150 to 200 saunas on one hillside in western Maryland? Mash said rangers noticed the stone rings in the early 1970s. In 1975, Mash contacted State Archaeologist Tyler J. Bastian, who visited the site and put the circles on a list of archaeological areas in Maryland. But it was not until last year that some archaelogists and volunteers excavated one of the circles. ``They did the dig and found zip, except for the rattlesnakes,\'\' Mash said. Hoping to uncover clues, another group conducted a dig this spring. ``In a nutshell, we didn\'t discover anything. They still remain a mystery,\'\' said Charles McVeigh Jr., a member of the Western Maryland Archaeological Society. ``We dug out in the center of them. We didn\'t go down very far before we got to bedrock. We found no artifacts. We found nothing to indicate prehistoric use.\'\' No future digs are planned, and two local archaeologists who took an interest in the circles, Robert D. Wall and Connie Huddleston, both have moved from Maryland. Neither could be reached for comment recently. Meanwhile, the state forest has put the circles on its historic preservation list to ensure the five-acre tract remains untouched, Mash said. The site could be eligible for the National Register of Historic Places if additional information could be found to document the age of the rings, their use and significance. Mash has dismissed the moonshine theory because there is no nearby water source needed to make moonshine. He said he did not think they were cock-fighting rings because only one pit is needed to hold a fight. And the rings are too close together to have been foxholes during the Civil War, he said. ``The site has no strategic value,\'\' Mash said. ``(And) the guy in the middle foxhole is going to be shooting his own pals before he can get his bullet out to hit the bad guys.\'\' Until someone conjures up a more believable theory, Mash said he puts the most stock in the orchard theory _ that someone placed the stones around apple trees that once grew in the area. There were 1 million apple trees in Green Ridge by 1914, he said. ``It is possible that they hired immigrants who could not understand directions given in English and some of them were told to clear the rocks away to plant the apple trees,\'\' he suggested. ``They were new in America and wanted to do a nice, neat job, so they put these rocks in nice neat little circles and left a space in the middle for the tree. And they might have worked on these for a couple of days, or a week until somebody stopped them. That could be a theory ...\'\'\r\n'),(2059,2,'Lawrence Iason, head of the Securities and Exchange Commission\'s New York Regional Office - the Wall Street watchdog agency\'s largest and busiest - is resigning to return to private law practice effective March 15. Iason, who took over the New York office Jan. 25, 1988, said today he told SEC Chairman Richard Breeden last week he planned to leave government service to return to his old law firm. ``The time has come. I\'m ready to go back to private practice,\'\' Iason said in a telephone interview from his office in Manhattan. He will be a partner at the New York firm of Morvillo, Abramowitz and Grant. Otto Obermaier, the U.S. attorney in Manhattan, is a former partner in the firm. As regional administrator of the New York office, Iason presided over several key investigations including the Business Week insider trading cases stemming from leaks of upcoming market sensitive stories and an administrative action against the brokerage firm Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette Securities Corp. that led to a $5.6 million settlement for alleged misuse of customer accounts. Perhaps more significantly, Iason took over an office in disarray after one regional administrator left suddenly in 1987 and officials from SEC headquarters in Washington ran the office on an acting basis. One of them, William McLucas, now heads the SEC\'s Enforcement Division. ``I\'m sorry to see him go. I think what he did with that office is remarkable,\'\' McLucas said of Iason. Iason, 45, is a 1967 Yale graduate who got his law degree in 1971 at New York University. He clerked for a federal judge, served in the Watergate special prosecutor\'s office and the U.S. attorney\'s office in New York before joining his former law firm for the first time in 1979. As head of the regional office he oversaw a staff of 250 that includes, secretaries, investigators and lawyers. A native of Hewlett, N.Y., Iason now lives with his wife and three children in Mamaroneck, N.Y.\r\n'),(2060,2,'Police interviewed witnesses Tuesday to track down the man who shot to death Cornelius Gunter, lead vocalist for The Coasters. The \'50s group\'s hits included ``Charlie Brown\'\' and ``Love Potion No.9.\'\' Gunter, inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987, was the second member of the \'50s group to die in a shooting in the Las Vegas area. Witnesses told police that Gunter\'s car was parked at an intersection in a residential area of the adjoining city of North Las Vegas on Monday and a thin black man was standing on the driver\'s side, talking to Gunter. ``They apparently got into a loud argument,\'\' said North Las Vegas Police Lt. Gary Rainey. ``People heard a couple of shots. Then the car took off, went about a block, then hit a block wall.\'\' Gunter, who was scheduled to perform this weekend, was found slumped over the steering wheel, with two gunshot wounds in his chest. ``It appears he was shot through the windshield and he was dead on the scene. We don\'t have a motive at this time,\'\' said Rainey. The suspect was seen running from the intersection with a gun in his hand, Rainey said. Rainey said Gunter, a Las Vegas resident, had no police record other than some traffic citations in North Las Vegas. Gunter, a tenor, joined The Coasters in 1957, two years after the group was formed in Los Angeles. Their comic vocals resulted in a string of wise-cracking do-wop hits in the late 1950s. With a flurry of hits that included ``Yakety Yak\'\' in 1957 and ``Charlie Brown,\'\' ``Along Came Jones\'\' and ``Poison Ivy\'\' in 1959, The Coasters were the country\'s most popular black rock \'n\' roll group at the end of the decade. Among their other hits were ``Framed,\'\' ``Idol with the Golden Head,\'\' and ``Shoppin\' for Clothes.\'\' Their last chart appearance was in 1971 with ``Love Potion No. 9.\'\' With varying personnel, Gunter kept the group on the concert circuit in the 1980s, including the current ensemble known as Cornell Gunter and His Coasters. Various band members headed separate groups billed as The Coasters in recent years. Gunter and The Coasters were scheduled to perform at the Lady Luck Hotel this weekend, said Janice Mazuroski, a hotel spokeswoman. ``It\'s a sad situation. He was so well liked in the industry,\'\' she said. The other Coaster slain, Nathaniel ``Buster\'\' Wilson was shot in the head in April 1980. His dismembered body was dumped near Hoover Dam and in a canyon near Modesto, Calif. Patrick Cavanaugh was convicted in the slaying and is now on Nevada\'s death row. Prosecutors speculated that Wilson was shot because he was going to tell police about a fraud scheme in which Cavanaugh was allegedly involved.\r\n'),(2061,2,'Keep an eye on the speedometer when driving through this village _ or be prepared to reach for your wallet and join thousands of people ticketed in 1989. National City, with just 70 residents, has 12 officers to patrol the one-mile stretch of Illinois Route 3 that bisects the village. Last year, National City police wrote more than 5,000 traffic tickets and earned more than $122,000 for the village coffers _ one-quarter of the overall budget. The 35 mph limit is posted on at least eight signs on each side of the road, Assistant Police Chief Jim Farrell said Tuesday. ``You can hardly call it a speed trap, because the speed limit is well posted,\'\' he said. The Illinois Department of Transportation estimates 8,700 cars daily pass through National City, which is across the Mississippi River from St. Louis and home to the National Stockyards Co. livestock complex and related businesses. ``It\'s sort of like a racetrack out there at times,\'\' Farrell said. ``We try to keep the traffic speed down and keep somebody from getting killed.\'\' Police began closely monitoring the highway five or six years ago after residents complained about the number of accidents, Farrell said. County records show National City police wrote 5,091 traffic tickets from Jan. 1 through Dec. 28, 1989. Most drivers were ticketed for speeding, although some were cited for multiple violations. Those citations accounted for nearly 8.5 percent of the 60,000 moving-violation traffic tickets issued last year in St. Clair County, which has a population of 265,000, said Barney Metz, county court clerk. State Police Capt. Bobby Henry, area commander, said he was surprised by the high number of tickets issued in National City. ``That\'s not a negative comment,\'\' he said. ``For a small department, they\'re obviously out there working to get that many citations.\'\' Route 3 has a 30 mph limit as it enters National City from East St. Louis. The speed limit then goes up to 35 mph, and stays there as the road leaves National City. Police Chief Edward Daubach said tickets aren\'t issued unless drivers exceed the limit by at least 10 mph. Village Clerk Kathryn Kuecker said National City\'s annual budget is about $400,000 to $450,000, with most of the revenue coming from property and sales taxes. St. Clair County is one of the state\'s most impoverished. ``We really don\'t know how much would come in in a given year\'\' from traffic tickets, Kuecker said Tuesday. However, the minimum penalty for a moving violation in Illinois is $50, of which local authorities keep $24; that would mean National City received more than $122,000 from the tickets issued last year. The village, with five full-time and seven part-time officers, is patrolled at all times by two officers in one car who use a radar detector. Officers have heard their share of excuses from speeders, Farrell said. ``We had one guy tell us he was in a hurry to go home and take his medicine,\'\' he said.\r\n'),(2062,2,'PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) _ Radio stations on Thursday announced the contents of a draft decree proposed by Haiti\'s military rulers, which says a government-appointed Electoral College will run elections and write an electoral law. The draft decree said the Electoral Board, made up of nine government-appointed representatives, one from each of Haiti\'s provinces, will also control voter registration and arbitrate disputes between candidates, Radio Haiti Inter said. The decree bears the names of Haitian ruler Lt. Gen. Prosper Avril and all 12 Cabinet ministers, the station said. ``The draft project is quite simply anti-constitutional; a scheme to get around the constitution,\'\' said Dr. Louis Roy, co-author of the constitution massively approved by Haitians in a 1987 referendum. The 1987 constitution, considered the most liberal in Haiti\'s 184-year history, provides for an independent electoral council, appointed by institutions such as the Roman Catholic Church, human rights groups and journalists associations. ``It is not possible to restore the constitution by anti-constitutional means. In Avril\'s version of the electoral institution, the executive names the members, and deprives it thereby of its independence,\'\' Roy said. After he was appointed president by soldiers who ousted Lt. Gen. Henri Namphy on Sept. 17, Avril promised to respect the constitution, human rights, and return Haiti to democracy. Avril told opposition politicians that elections could not be held for at least another two years. The government delivered copies of the draft decree to several radio stations, political parties and professional groups in Port-au-Prince, asking for comments and suggestions, which may be incorporated into the decree before it is made into law by the military government, Radio Haiti Inter said. Namphy had suspended the constitution, saying it was inspired by foreign ideas. Soldiers said they ousted Namphy because they were sickened by unpunished acts of terrorism and state-sponsored violence. Namphy abolished the independent Electoral Council on Nov. 29 hours after thugs protected by soldiers shot and hacked to death at least 36 voters, in what would have been Haiti\'s first truly free election. An attempt by Namphy to override the independent council and rewrite the electoral law in June 1987 touched off a wave of anti-government protests and strikes, which left over 30 dead and dozens wounded. Namphy replaced dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier, who fled to France in February 1986.\r\n'),(2063,2,'An official said on Friday that a Chinese smuggler paid a U.S. immigration agent up to $1 million to allow more than 200 Chinese emigrants into the United States by way of the Virgin Islands. At a detention hearing, Magistrate Jeffrey Resnick ordered jailed without bail inspector Juanito Creque of the Immigration and Naturalization Service; Leonard Y. Hu, the alleged smuggler, and five illegal immigrants. Creque and Hu are charged with conspiracy to smuggle illegal aliens across a U.S. border. Hu is charged with bribery and Creque with accepting a payoff. U.S. Attorney Terry Halpern said in asking for their detention, ``They are international travelers with connections in many foreign points along the route used to bring Red Chinese from mainland China to St. Croix and St. Thomas.\'\' Customs agent Ramon Davila, who posed undercover as a co-conspirator during the investigation, said in an affidavit that the aliens traveled to the Virgin Islands by way of Hong Kong, London and the West Indies island of Antigua. Davila said Hu paid Creque $5,000 each _ or up to $1 million _ for more than 200 illegal Chinese immigrants Creque allowed to enter the Caribbean territory and continue on to the the mainland United States last year. Davila said Hu paid him $15,000 in bribes to allow five Chinese safe passage to the United States in November. He said in the affidavit that Hu and the five aliens were kept under surveillance and traced to a restaurant on Mott Street, in New York City\'s Chinatown district. Hu, Creque and six others were arrested this week at St. Thomas airport as the aliens were trying to travel to New York. The six others _ Antiguans Everton Coates and his wife Millentine, and Chinese Tong Xiang Yang, Zhou Tu Ni, Jufoi Wu and Dian Min Zheng _ were charged with conspiracy and entry without inspection. According to Davila\'s affidavit, Coates was the Antiguan contact and his wife coordinated the alien shipment and was in communication with Creque. Mrs. Coates was released on $35,000 property bond. All the other remained in jail. A trial date has not been set.\r\n'),(2064,2,'A group of legislators today demanded imposition of a state of emergency and a freeze on all political parties and parliaments to help pull the Soviet Union out of its political and economic crisis. The group, which included the right-wing Soyuz group of parliamentarians as well as the reformist Liberal-Democratic Party, all but called for a military coup as a means of solving the nation\'s problems. The group\'s leaders announced the legislators were forming a National Salvation Committee and demanded transfer of power to it, the state news agency Tass and the independent news agency Interfax reported. The committee asked the army to help implement the plan, calling the military, ``the sole force still resisting the disintegration of the state,\'\' Interfax reported. Vladimir Zhirinovski, a leader of the Liberal-Democratic Party and spokesman for the committee, said in a telephone interview that the coalition represented 400 lawmakers in the 2,250-member Congress of Peoples\' Deputies. Sentiment for a crackdown also is widespread in the Communist Party, which holds a majority in most of legislative bodies on the national and local level. Many Communists want President Mikhail S. Gorbachev to call a state of emergency and enforce it through the armed forces and the KGB security police. The National Salvation Committee seemed to have the same goals, although its goals were not spelled out clearly during the news conference its leaders called today to announce the group\'s existence. With all but one of the 15 Soviet republics seeking some form of independence or autonomy from central government, many officials fear for the very structure of the Soviet Union. The Soviet economy also is crumbling as the old command system is failing and grocery shelves in major cities are bare. Across the capital, Russian Federation President Boris Yeltsin harshly warned military officers at the Dzerzhinsky Military Academy that ``if the army enters our boiling society as an active factor, confrontation will increase many times, and carry the society to catastrophe.\'\'\r\n'),(2065,2,'The sweet smell of success is wafting from the city\'s trash, with more than 100,000 New Yorkers applying for jobs as sanitation workers. It\'s a record turnout of applicants for any city job, officials said Wednesday, and at least one of them thinks he knows why. ``For somebody who likes the outdoors, it\'s a good, clean living,\'\' said Sanitation Department spokesman Vito Turso. ``You can build up your muscles, and then get them tanned.\'\' Sure. But what makes people look at garbage and see gold? Try $23,104 per year to start, with the salary climbing to $35,000 after five years. Add in overtime, and a likely raise with the next city contract, and it\'s obvious all that smells doesn\'t necessarily stink. The job requirements are minimal: a driver\'s license and a strong back. The work week is 35 hours, with the shift running from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.; summer hours let workers out at 2 p.m. As with most city jobs, there are comprehensive benefits. Negatives? The average city sanitation worker lifts five tons of garbage per day, the rough equivalent of two Toyotas. And the odds of bagging a position are 50-to-1. As of Wednesday, 102,000 people had registered to take the written test this Saturday. Of those who pass, 15,000 will be selected randomly by computer and given the physical test. Eventually, 2,000 will be hired over the next four years, city budgets permitting. Virtually all are expected to pass the written test, which is basically trash-specific. ``It\'s mostly reading comprehension. They receive manuals on operating the trucks and safety, and the questions deal with that,\'\' Turso explained. ``For example, which button do you push to start the truck? Button A. Like that.\'\' When the test was last given in 1983, nearly 95 percent of the 88,000 applicants passed the written part. The physical test is a bit heavier. Potential trash-carriers last time had 27 minutes to load 147 sacks of simulated garbage - 2,975 pounds worth - into a hopper set at the height of a garbage truck. Each applicant has paid a $15 fee to take the written test despite the long odds. Other than that, they might have little in common: the applicants cross all lines of sex and age, with potential employees coming from all walks of life, Turso said. ``We\'ve had individuals come out in their 50s, gray haired, grandchildren in tow,\'\' said Turso. ``And some of them have actually been called up.\'\'\r\n'),(2066,2,'The city commission has approved a measure that urges a ban on ``The Last Temptation of Christ,\'\' a movie one commissioner called ``garbage\'\' because of its fictional portrayal of Jesus. The 3-2 vote by the commission in this well-to-do Orlando suburb asks Universal Pictures not to distribute the film unless it is changed ``to eliminate the fictional material which defames the character of Jesus Christ.\'\' It also urges theaters to reject the film, and asks residents to contact the filmmakers and express their opposition. ``This is the type of garbage they want to put in our movie theaters,\'\' said Commissioner Tom Ivey, who proposed the resolution Tuesday. Ivey, who is running for a Florida House seat, said the script portrays Jesus as a weak, unstable man and a sinner. The film, tentatively set for release in September, has drawn criticism elsewhere. Last week, fundamentalist Christians picketed the home of MCA-Universal Chairman Lew Wasserman in Los Angeles. Publicist Catherine Leach of MCA Inc., parent company of Universal, said Wednesday that filmmaker Martin Scorcese ``firmly believes that this film is a religious affirmation of faith.\'\' She called efforts to prevent the film\'s release censorship.\r\n'),(2067,2,'Today is Monday, July 11, the 193rd day of 1988. There are 173 days left in the year. Today\'s Highlight in History: On July 11, 1804, Vice President Aaron Burr mortally wounded former Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton in a pistol duel near Weehawken, N.J. On this date: In 1533, Pope Clement VII excommunicated England\'s King Henry VIII. In 1767, John Quincy Adams, the sixth president of the United States, was born in Braintree, Mass. In 1798, the U.S. Marine Corps was created by an act of Congress. In 1864, Confederate forces led by Gen. Jubal Early began their invasion of Washington D.C. In 1934, President Franklin D. Roosevelt became the first chief executive to travel through the Panama Canal, aboard the cruiser Houston. In 1955, the new U.S. Air Force Academy was dedicated at Lowry Air Base in Colorado. In 1974, the House Judiciary Committee released volumes of evidence it had gathered in its Watergate inquiry. In 1977, the Medal of Freedom was awarded posthumously to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in a White House ceremony. In 1979, the abandoned U.S. space station Skylab made a spectacular return to Earth, burning up in the atmosphere and showering debris over the Indian Ocean and Australia. In 1980, American hostage Richard I. Queen, freed by Iran after eight months of captivity because of poor health, left Tehran for Switzerland. In 1985, Nolan Ryan of the Houston Astros became the first pitcher in major league baseball to strike out 4,000 batters as he fanned Danny Heep of the New York Mets. Ten years ago: A tanker truck overfilled with propylene gas exploded on a coastal highway south of Tarragona, Spain, setting off a fireball that devastated a nearby campsite, killing 215 tourists as well as the driver. The National League downed the American League, 7-3, in baseball\'s 49th annual All-Star Game. Five years ago: The Reagan administration filed its first school desegregation suit, charging that Alabama\'s public colleges and universities were practicing racial segregation. One year ago: Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke won a third consecutive term, becoming the first Labor Party leader in the country\'s history to be elected to three straight terms in office. Today\'s Birthdays: Actor Tab Hunter is 57. Singer Bonnie Pointer is 37. Boxer Leon Spinks is 35. Thought for Today: ``History is written by the winners.\'\' _ Alex Haley, American author.\r\n'),(2068,2,'The red-cockaded woodpecker, once common in the Southeast, still ranges from Texas to the Carolinas, but is found mainly in isolated populations on federal lands. The birds live in small flocks, called clans, boring nesting holes in living pine trees about 60 or more years old. The cluster of trees where the woodpeckers roost is called a colony. According to the U.S. Forest Service, the greatest numbers of known active colonies are found in the Appalachicola National Forest in Florida, with 693, the Kisatchie National Forest in Louisiana, with 314, and the Francis Marion National Forest in South Carolina, where the number dropped after Hurricane Hugo from 487 in 1988 to an estimated 320 to 340 today. Other national forests: Talladega (Ala.), 162 active colonies; Sam Houston (Texas), 133; Bienville (Miss.), 88; Oseola (Fla.), 50; Croatan (N.C.), 45; Angelina-Sabine (Texas), 34; Davy Crockett (Texas), 27; Homochitto (Miss.), 26; DeSoto (Miss.), 18; Ouachita (Ark.), 16; Conecuh (Ala.), 16; Ocala (Fla.), 14; Daniel Boone (Ky.), 6; Cherokee (Tenn.), 1; Oconee (Ga.), 1; Tuskegee (Ala.), 1.\r\n'),(2069,2,'The Senate Judiciary Committee approved the nomination of New Hampshire jurist David H. Souter to the Supreme Court on Thursday with but one dissenting vote. The full Senate is expected to confirm him easily when it votes next Tuesday, the day after the court begins its session. Democrats as well as Republicans on the committee said they saw in President Bush\'s nominee a brilliant legal scholar and a man of good temperament and integrity. In the 13-1 vote, only Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., opposed him, saying he feared Souter would ``solidify a 5-4 anti-civil-rights, anti-privacy majority.\'\' Howell Heflin, a conservative Alabama Democrat whose opposition helped kill the 1987 Supreme Court nomination of Robert Bork, said he liked Souter\'s ``clearheaded approach\'\' and lack of an ideological agenda. Added Howard Metzenbaum, D-Ohio: ``My sense is that David Souter is a fair and open-minded jurist who knows well the weight of the responsibilities which will be placed upon him,\'\' Bush hailed the committee action and repeated his request that the Senate ``act as quickly as possible to confirm this man\'\' so he could be seated when the court begins its new session. But Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell announced Thursday night that he and Republican leaders agreed to hold the confirmation vote on Souter on Tuesday. The Jewish holiday Yom Kippur which was interrupting Congress\' schedule Friday. And Biden and other Democrats were loathe to waive rules that give senators time before voting to review a committee\'s findings. Souter, 51, in a statement released in New Hampshire, thanked committee leaders and members ``for their courtesy and consideration. I am gratified by their action. I await the decision of the full Senate.\'\' Earlier, Tom Rath, like Souter a former New Hampshire attorney general, said Souter heard of the panel\'s action on a radio in Rath\'s law office. ``To get this kind of overwhelming support makes us feel very good,\'\' Rath said, adding that Souter would issue his separate statement as soon as the White House approved it. The lopsided vote did not show the widespread unease on the committee caused by Souter\'s refusal to state his positions on abortion and other critical issues before the court. ``Judge Souter is not the sort of judge I would nominate if I were president,\'\' said committee chairman Joseph Biden, D-Del., a supporter of abortion rights. Souter ``just barely\'\' met his criteria, Biden said. ``But I think that he is about the best we can expect\'\' from Bush, who opposes abortion rights, he said. ``Aspects of Judge Souter\'s testimony were of little comfort to legal conservatives including this senator,\'\' said Gordon Humphrey, R-N.H., in a statement released at the committee session. ``But we recognize that the president is entitled to considerable deference in his choice for the Supreme Court.\'\' Humphrey\'s New Hampshire colleague, Warren Rudman, a Republican not on the Budget Committee who has been Souter\'s mentor and Senate champion, said he was pleased with the vote and not disturbed by the reservations expressed by some members. ``That\'s normal,\'\' Rudman said. ``Those are people whoare obviously concerned about staking out political grounds for the future and I can understand that.\'\' Democrats who supported Souter expressed faith that he was as open-minded on women\'s rights and other issues as he professed to be. But Kennedy refused to go along. ``I am troubled that... he will solidify a 5-4 anti-civil-rights, anti-privacy majority inclined to turn back the clock on the historic progress of recent decades,\'\' Kennedy said. ``I hope I am wrong. But I fear I am right,\'\' Kennedy said. ``The lesson of the past decade ... is that we must vote our fears, not our hopes.\'\' ``I hope I\'m not wrong,\'\' said Metzenbaum, usually a Kennedy ally, in revealing his affirmative vote. Kennedy won\'t be quite so alone when the nomination comes before the full Senate. Five other Democrats had announced their opposition to the nomination by Thursday, mostly based on the abortion issue. Molly Yard, president of the National Organization for Women, attended Thursday\'s committee meeting and said afterward: ``I tremble for the women of the United States.\'\' Senate Republicans urged the majority Democrats to schedule a full Senate vote before Monday. ``If we delay for only three days there will be a dozen cases in which he cannot participate,\'\' said Sen. Alan K. Simpson, R-Wyo., the deputy GOP leader. The court planned to hear arguments on four cases on each of the first three days next week.\r\n'),(2070,2,'The Treasury Department announced Wednesday it was selling $2.56 billion in 20-year bonds to the government of Mexico as part of an innovative effort to help solve that country\'s debt problems. Mexico will pay $492 million in cash for the zero-coupon bonds, so-called because they are sold at a deep discount from the face amount and pay no interest until they mature. The sale of the U.S. securities was the final step in an innovative procedure unveiled last December. Mexico sought to induce foreign banks to forgive a portion of their loans by offering, in exchange, smaller quantities of Mexican government bonds that would be backed by collateral consisting of U.S. Treasury securities. Banks were asked to bid for the bonds, offering to cancel their loans at a discount. Backers of the plan had hoped to reduce Mexico\'s debt burden by up to $10 billion, but when the bids were opened on March 2, the amount of debt reduction amounted to a disappointing $1.1 billion. The Mexican Finance Ministry rejected nearly half of the bids it received as insufficient. The bids accepted would retire $3.66 billion in debt at an average discount of 67.66 cents on the dollar, offering $2.56 billion worth of Mexican bonds in exchange. The $2.56 billion in zero-coupon bonds sold by U.S. Treasury on Wednesday will be used as collateral to back up the Mexican bonds.\r\n'),(2071,2,'A great white shark, one of the few known man-eaters, swam into a commercial fishing net in Southern California\'s coastal waters, a television station reported Saturday. The 13-foot, 1,500-pound shark was displayed when the vessel docked Saturday at Terminal Island in the Los Angeles harbor. Anthony Tibich, skipper of the Aggressor, had ventured out Friday on an overnight trip to San Clemente Island in search of commercially marketable shark, according to a report by KNBC-TV in Burbank. But the skipper was surprised to find tangled in the fishing net Friday morning the huge type of shark featured in the ``Jaws\'\' movies attacking surfers and swimmers, the report said. Sightings of the great white shark are unusual in Southern California\'s warmer coastal waters. San Clemente Island is about 75 miles southwest of Los Angeles. Reports of a great white shark sighting on Thursday led Orange County authorities to evacuate about 2,000 swimmers along a 5{-mile shore at Newport Beach. The beaches were reopened Friday.\r\n'),(2072,2,'Richard Sagness has a double-dipped career _ during the school year he\'s a college professor but during the summer he\'s a scooper. That\'s why they call him Dr. Ice Cream. ``It\'s a real tough way to spend the summer,\'\' Sagness chuckled as he leaned over his ice cream cart at downtown Pocatello\'s Simplot Square. ``I suppose some people think it\'s beneath my dignity to be doing this, but I think that\'s nonsense.\'\' Sagness, who trains the teachers of tomorrow as a professor in Idaho State University\'s College of Education, says he\'s not in it for the money. He does it, he says, to help his wife keep her cool. ``He\'s doing this very willingly,\'\' maintained Donna Sagness, who owns the local ice cream shop. But she conceded the cart has been a good way to keep her husband out of trouble. ``He\'s worth what I pay him, which is nothing,\'\' she said. ``He\'s good with the cart, but we have to watch him when he\'s in the store. He\'ll eat everything, including the flavors that nobody else will eat, like brandied fruitcake.\'\' Sagness admits his love of ice cream, especially when it\'s free, keeps him on the job. ``When I was a kid, I worked at a soda fountain. The owner said, `Eat all you want, because eventually you\'ll get tired of it,\'\'\' he recalled. ``I was his only employee that never got tired of it.\'\'\r\n'),(2073,2,'The Supreme Court ruled today that the bulk of so-called ``gray market\'\' goods are legal, giving a green light to a big part of a multi-billion-dollar business that allows consumers to buy costly, brand-name imports at steep discounts. In another case, the court ruled that states sometimes may execute convicted murderers even if theirright to a lawyer\'s help was violated. In constitutional splintered voting, the justices upheld parts of U.S. Customs Service regulations that permit gray market products into the country without approval from trademark owners. The court also struck down part of the Customs Service rules, thereby limiting somewhat the availability of the discount goods. But some justices said those rules only apply to a small part of the dispute decided today. The exact size of the gray market is unclear. Estimates have ranged from $5 billion to $10 billion a year. The declining value of the dollar, reducing its purchasing power abroad, may have dampened the market. But the business still appears to be thriving. Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, writing for the court, said a keyersity of Georgia\'s College of Veterinary Medicine. Nettles helped write the USDA report and is formulating regulations to use as a model for state governments. ``There are disease implications. There are human safety implications, which make the headlines read big _ a kid gets eaten by a polar bear in New York. And there\'s the escape factor, which from a naturalist point of view is very important.\'\' But the debate between exotic animal dealers and animal rights activists rages most fiercely over the moral issue. Is is right or wrong to put wild animals in a cage? And does captivity ensure a species\' survival or hasten its death? ``I believe animals are here for our use, but not our abuse,\'\' says Hoctor. ``There\'s nothing wrong with owning a pair of ostrich boots if we\'re culling ostrich males. However, if in our smug admiration of ourselves we rape nature and make those animals endangered so we can have a pair of ostrich boots, that\'s wrong.\'\' Others believe there is no reason to exploit a wild animal when there are plenty of domestic animals that already provide companionship, food and warmth. ``That type of thinking _ justifying the exploitation of animals by juding them as an economic resource _ is going to lead to more and more species becoming endangered,\'\' says Herbet. ``Animals have an intrinsic value and ecological value. You shouldn\'t have to put a dollar value on it to ensure its survival.\'\'\r\n'),(2074,2,'The Galileo spaceship swooped past Venus early Saturday, and the cloud-shrouded planet acted as a gravity slingshot to help hurl the craft toward its 1995 rendezvous with Jupiter. Engineers at NASA\'s Jet Propulsion Laboratory received a radio signal confirming that the 2.8-ton spacecraft made its closest approach to Venus at 12:59 a.m. EST, cruising 10,028 miles above the planet\'s hellishly hot surface. ``We have just flown through our closest approach point to Venus,\'\' said Bill O\'Neil, science and mission design manager. ``The greatest challenge of getting Galileo to Jupiter has been met.\'\' Four hours before the close encounter, radio signals received on Earth confirmed the spacecraft computer ordered Galileo\'s infrared light sensor to start observing Venus. The instrument was looking for the glow of the hot lower atmosphere backlighting cooler clouds overhead, O\'Neil said. That started an eight-hour period of intensive photography and measurements, including a photographic search for lightning. Earlier Friday, Galileo studied dust particles and magnetic fields in space, and measured Venusian atmospheric temperatures. ``The Venus encounter is our first major milestone in the mission,\'\' said Galileo project scientist Torrence Johnson. ``After the encounter, we have gained enough energy out of this celestial billiard shot to get the energy we need to make it all the way to Jupiter.\'\' The power the spacecraft gains in the flyby is triple the energy of its propellant supply, said mission director Neal Ausman. The $1.35 billion mission will let Galileo examine Earth, its moon and one or two asteroids before the spacecraft separates into an orbiter and a small probe in July 1995. In December 1995, they arrive at Jupiter, the solar system\'s largest planet, after a 2.4-billion-mile trip, including 182 million miles to reach Venus. Galileo was deployed from the space shuttle Atlantis last Oct. 18. Venus circles the sun between the orbits of Earth and Mercury, the closest planet to the sun. Acid-laden clouds extend 40 miles above the surface, trapping heat in a runaway ``greenhouse effect\'\' that raised surface temperatures to 900 degrees Fahrenheit. Atmospheric pressure is 90 times that on Earth. Venus is about 95 percent as wide as Earth. Scientists suspect it may have active volcanoes and shifting plates on its crust. The Venus flyby was designed purely to give Galileo a boost for its trip to Jupiter by increasing its speed from 83,750 mph to 88,740 mph. In two other ``gravity assist\'\' maneuvers, the spacecraft will use the Earth as a slingshot next Dec. 8 and again on Dec. 8, 1992, so it will be properly aimed toward Jupiter, Ausman said. Scientists decided to take advantage of the Venus encounter by having Galileo\'s camera and instruments make photographs and measurements of Venus starting Thursday night and continuing for a week. But almost all the pictures and data _ stored on three tracks of Galileo\'s four-track tape recorder _ won\'t be sent back to Earth until October, when the spacecraft is close enough to transmit the material with its low-gain antenna. That antenna now can be used only for communications to keep Galileo operating. Galileo\'s main umbrella-shaped antenna must remain furled to protect it from sunlight until after the craft makes its first flight past Earth. Galileo was programmed to photograph Venus and study the planet with its ultraviolet, infrared and visible light sensors to look for lightning, study the makeup of the carbon dioxide atmosphere, examine cloud and wind patterns, map cloudtop temperatures and peer at the lower atmosphere. Sensors that detect particles and magnetic fields were programmed to study how solar wind interacts with Venus\' atmosphere. At the same time, NASA arranged for the Pioneer Venus Orbiter, circling Venus since 1978, to make similar measurements closer to the planet, Johnson said. While nearly 20 other U.S. and Soviet spacecraft have visited Venus, ``we think we\'re going to get some real good stuff,\'\' he said. But scientists won\'t know for months unless engineers meet success next week when they try to have Galileo send back a small amount of data, Johnson added. Studies from Earth and previous spacecraft indicate Venus has continent-sized highlands with peaks dwarfing Mount Everest and hundreds of thousands of volcanoes stretching across lowland plains. NASA\'s Magellan spacecraft, launched from Atlantis last May 4, will go into orbit around Venus in August. It will use radar to peer through the clouds and map at least 70 percent of Venus\' surface during a $550 million mission. When the Galileo probe and orbiter reach Jupiter, the probe will parachute into the atmosphere and make measurements until intense heat and pressure vaporize it. The orbiter will photograph and study Jupiter and its major moons until late 1997, circling the planet instead of flying past it like the Pioneer and Voyager spacecraft. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration originally planned to send Galileo on a two-year trip to Jupiter by launching it with a Centaur rocket after it was released from a shuttle. But the 1986 explosion that destroyed Challenger and killed seven crew members raised safety concerns. NASA decided against using the volatile, liquid-fueled Centaur. So Galileo was launched with a much weaker Inertial Upper Stage booster after it was deployed by Atlantis\' crew. The weaker rocket required NASA to redesign Galileo\'s route so the craft could utilize gravity from Venus and Earth for a much longer, looping trip to Jupiter. Environmentalists failed in court to stop NASA from having a shuttle carry Galileo into space. They feared a Challenger-like explosion could contaminate Florida with plutonium in Galileo\'s nuclear batteries, which are not reactors but generate electricity using heat from the radioactive decay of plutonium. NASA said the risk was minimal. Galileo is named for the Italian Renaissance astronomer who discovered Jupiter\'s major moons.\r\n'),(2075,2,'Former President Carter described Democratic front-runner Michael Dukakis as ``highly competent\'\' on Tuesday and said Dukakis would fare well against Republican George Bush in the Nov. 8 general election. ``I know him well. He and I were governors together,\'\' said Carter, who was governor of Georgia from 1971 to 1975 and won the presidency in 1976. Carter said the Massachusetts governor ``is highly competent. I think among all the governors, he would be voted one of the top ones in administrative ability, in vision and competence and sound judgment.\'\' Carter said Dukakis\' nomination was ``the obvious likelihood now\'\' and predicted ``he will do well\'\' against Bush. As a former Democratic president, Carter is a delegate to the convention in Atlanta this summer. He said it is still his intention to go to the convention as an uncommitted delegate because he told the candidates earlier that he would not choose among them until the convention.\r\n'),(2076,2,'Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres indicated Israel would not exclude Palestine Liberation Organization chairman Yasser Arafat from future peace talks provided PLO declarations renouncing terrorism prove true. Peres did not name Arafat in a television interview Sunday, but said Israel was prepared to talk with ``every Palestinian, no matter what his biography was, if he is not shooting and killing.\'\' He said Israel will wait ``a month, a couple of months,\'\' to see if terrorism, including uprisings in the occupied territories, ends. Israeli officials have denounced the United States decision last week to hold a ``substantive dialogue\'\' with the PLO, strongly condemning a move that grants diplomatic credibility to a man Israelis accuse of masterminding a campaign of terror against the Jewish state. Terrorism played a large role in the first talks U.S. and PLO officials held in Tunis last week. The session took place after Arafat last week met American conditions that included recognition of Israel\'s right to exist and renunciation of terrorism. Peres, in the interview on CBS-TV\'s ``Face the Nation,\'\' appeared to step back from Israel\'s refusal to take part in talks that include Arafat. He linked such negotiations, however, to an end to violence in the occupied territories. Arafat, in speaking against terrorism, has not included the stone-throwing and other acts carried out by Palestinians under Israeli rule. So far, 332 Palestinians have died in the year-old clashes with Israeli soldiers, including three who were killed today. And despite the movement towards peace talks, statements from other PLO officials indicated violence was far from a thing of the past. Salah Khalaf, second in command Arafat in Fatah, the largest PLO group, meanwhile, told an Abu Dhabi news conference that Arafat\'s denunciation of terrorism last week ``did not include military attacks against Israel.\'\' ``Our struggle will continue until we raise the Palestinian flag over Jerusalem,\'\' he said. Peres said in the television interview, ``I shall say, very clearly, I am ready to sit with every Palestinian who is not engaged in terror, who is seeking peace and who wants to negotiate the peaceful solution with Israel.\'\' Asked whether that included sitting down with Arafat, he said, ``I am not ready to refer to a single person because I don\'t think that\'s the issue. But I am saying, in a very clear way, with every Palestinian, no matter what his biography used to be.\'\' Peres added he has ``doubts about Mr. Arafat.\'\' But he said, ``I am ready to sit with every Palestinian, no matter what his biography was ...\'\' ``If Mr. Arafat says, `I\'m going to stop violence and terror,\' okay, let\'s wait a month, a couple of months and see if this is really going to happen,\'\' Peres said. It was unclear from the comments whether that view would carry over into a new Israeli government. Talks between Peres\' Labor Alignment and Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir\'s Likud Bloc over a new government have broken down, leaving Shamir aides talking about forming a new governing coalition with ultra-orthodox Jewish parties.\r\n'),(2077,2,'Contracts settled through collective bargaining last year provided workers average annual wage increases of 3.3 percent over the life of the pacts, the government said today. The Labor Department said 1989 was the first time since 1981 that negotiated settlements provided larger wage adjustments than the contracts they replaced. The last time parties to 1989 settlements negotiated, usually in 1986 or 1987, average wage rate adjustments were 2.4 percent over the contract term. Wage restorations in steel and other industries, as well as wage gains for nurses, accounted for the difference, the agency said. Last year\'s 3.3 percent wage gains also were up from the 2.4 percent average wage gains contained in collective bargaining agreements settled in 1988. The collective bargaining report, like the Labor Department\'s broader Employment Cost Index report, showed workers in the fast-growing service sector winning larger wage gains than manufacturing workers. Service workers received an average of 3.5 percent hikes over the life of the contracts while manufacturing workers received 3.2 percent raises. The Labor Department said the 459 collective bargaining agreements it analyzed covered about 1.85 million workers. The government tracks agreements covering bargaining units with at least 1,000 workers. The government said 114 such contracts covering 743,000 workers had been expired or reopened in the last quarter but had not been settled or ratified by Dec. 31. About half of those workers are employed in railroads.\r\n'),(2078,2,'The Reagan administration said today it is considering new sanctions against Panama to force the ouster of strongman Manuel Antonio Noriega, but it appeared no action was imminent. ``Other sanctions are being actively considered,\'\' said White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater. However, an administration official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said ``nothing\'s imminent.\'\' On Capitol Hill, meanwhile, two Republican lawmakers introduced legislation that calls on President Reagan to renegotiate the Panama Canal treaties to allow U.S. troops to remain in Panama past the year 2000. The canal treaties negotiated with Panama in 1979 provide for the transfer of the canal to Panama on Dec. 31, 1999. The legislation introduced by Rep. Robert Walker of Pennsylvania and New York Rep. Jerry Solomon would allow independent U.S. action to defend the canal as well as permit U.S. troops to remain in Panama past the year 2000. Separately, Sen. Alfonse M. D\'Amato, R-N.Y., said today that Noriega\'s troops have harassed and beaten canal employees. ``There is a continuing pattern of escalation\'\' in Panamanian actions against the canal, he said in an interview on ABC-TV\'s ``Good Morning America.\'\' He did not elaborate. Beyond applying new sanctions, the administration is raising the prospect that the U.S. military may be used to protect the estimated 50,000 American citizens in Panama against possible harassment by that country\'s security forces. Fitzwater appeared to open the door to that possibility Tuesday after an incident the previous evening in which Panamanian troops confiscated the tapes of four U.S. television networks and briefly detained several American journalists. Discussing the harassment against Americans, Fitzwater said, ``It has always been a principle that we will protect American citizens as best we can and, while we have said that we don\'t plan to go in militarily, it\'s also important to note that there are limits.\'\' But when President Reagan met with senior advisers Tuesday afternoon to discuss the Panama situation, use of military force was not discussed, according to an administration official who asked not to be identified. The official said other options were discussed for bringing pressure to bear on Panamanian strongman Manuel Antonio Noriega, the de facto head of what the United States considers to be an illegal government. It was not clear whether Fitzwater\'s comments represented a genuine re-evaluation of U.S. policy or were part of the continuing war of nerves between the administration and Panama\'s military-dominated government. One major deterrent to military intervention is that any such move would generate a hostile reaction throughout Latin America. Most delegates attending a conference of Latin American representatives in Venezuela on Monday and Tuesday called for the U.S. to exercise restraint. In recent days, the administration has been weighing the possibility of imposing additional sanctions against Panama. U.S. officials, who asked not to be identified, said Reagan could invoke the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which would give him broad discretionary authority to limit private U.S. transactions with Panama. One example would be the suspension of all air service between the two countries. Over the past month, administration actions have effectively cut off the flow of dollars into Panama, leaving the country near insolvency. Reagan has called on Noriega to step down. There was a new sense of urgency here Tuesday over signs of an accelerating deterioration of the situation in Panama. On Monday, thousands of anti-government demonstrators were routed by government forces with the help of shotguns, tear gas and water cannon. Witnesses said several people were injured and dozens arrested. Later, security agents forced their way at gunpoint into the offices of four American networks at a local hotel and confiscated tapes of the demonstration. Eight foreign journalists, including Americans, were detained for several hours before being released. Shortly before Fitzwater spoke, ousted Panamanian President Eric Arturo Delvalle, whose authority the United States continues to recognize, appealed for the creation of a U.S.-led international force to oust Noriega. Delvalle, who has spent the past month in hiding, made his appeal through Panama\'s ambassador, Juan B. Sosa, who has been acting as Delvalle\'s representative in Washington and has refused to relinquish the embassy to a replacement appointed by Panama\'s new government. While criticizing the violence used against Panamanian demonstrators, the focus of the remarks by both Fitzwater and State Department spokesman Charles Redman was on the harassment of the American journalists. Their comments evoked memories of Grenada when the United States and several friendly Caribbean nations sent forces into that country five years ago and ousted the leftist government there. The U.S. rationale was that hundreds of American medical students on the island faced potential danger. Fitzwater said, ``We are certainly concerned by this threat to Americans and find it a very difficult turn of events and one that is contrary to assurances that we have received in the past.\'\'\r\n'),(2079,2,'Torrential thunderstorms sent a flash flood surging through a valley into this Ohio River town, killing at least 11 people, leaving 51 missing and scores of others homeless Friday, authorities said. Raging floodwaters late Thursday swept homes off foundations and washed away cars. About 200 people were reported evacuated in central Ohio. ``The valleys are choked with debris,\'\' Gov. Richard Celeste told reporters after flying over the hilly Appalachian region in eastern Ohio. ``A wall of water wiped a path through the area.\'\' The governor declared a state of emergency, and dispatched about 50 National Guardsmen to the area. The Federal Emergency Management Agency declared Belmont County, which includes Shadyside, and Jefferson and Franklin counties disaster areas, making federal aid available to residents. Seventeen counties now have been declared disaster areas because of flooding or tornadoes since May 29. Ten bodies were taken to the Bauknecht Funeral Home in Shadyside, said Bob Bell, funeral director. One body was taken to Bellaire City Hospital, he said. Chuck Vogt, Belmont County coroner\'s investigator, also said there were 11 confirmed dead. Earlier, Fire Chief Mark Badia had said 14 adults and two children were dead. The names of the victims have not been released. County Sheriff Tom McCort, who said he was running the recovery effort, said 51 people in Shadysville and Meade Township, where the two creeks run south of the village, were missing as of 8:45 p.m. The list was compiled through telephone inquiries with townspeople and relatives and interviews with people evacuated from the area. About 200 people came and went from a Shadyside disaster center during the day, seeking news of missing friends and relatives. Vogt said two bodies were found in the Ohio River and one was found in a field next to the river after water receded. He said the rest were found in the creeks, which flow into the river. Some of the bodies were taken to a funeral home that set up a temporary morgue in Shadyside, about 10 miles south of Wheeling, W.Va. Officials from Ohio, West Virginia and the U.S. Coast Guard were searching the Ohio River for survivors and bodies, and Badia said National Guardsmen were to continue searching the creeks throughout the night. At least five houses along Wegee Creek were washed away, and two cars were floating in water in one of the basements. Anything that was still standing was covered with at least 6 feet of debris such as trees, appliances and furniture. The National Weather Service issued no flood warning before the disaster, although it did issue a flood watch, said Al Wheeler, deputy meteorologist in the bureau\'s Cleveland office. Weather service offices in Cleveland, Akron, Columbus and Pittsburgh showed the storm had diminished over eastern Ohio when it had actually intensified, Wheeler said. Thursday night\'s thunderstorms caused flash flooding across a wide area of central and eastern Ohio, northern West Virginia and western Pennsylvania. The floods closed roads, damaged homes and forced hundreds of people to evacuate. But no place was hit with anything approaching the ferocity of the flooding in Shadyside. About 5.5 inches of rain fell between 7:30 p.m. and 11 p.m., turning two Ohio River tributaries outside the village of 4,300 people into dangerous torrents. About 35 buildings, including a tavern, were damaged along Wegee Creek, and 50 buildings were hit by a flood along Pipe Creek, four miles south of Wegee Creek, said Dick Quinlin, Belmont County emergency services coordinator. Part of the tavern was washed away when water caved in the back wall, said Judy Phillips, a sheriff\'s department spokeswoman. She said two patrons were accounted for, but she could offer no estimate of how many were inside at the time. One man was found clinging to a bar stool, said state Sen. Robert Ney, whose district includes Shadyside. ``I\'ve never seen anything of this magnitude. There was no warning,\'\' Ney said. Rescuers pulled people from three cars in Wegee Creek, which flows through Shadyside and into the Ohio River, said Badia. ``I don\'t know how to describe it. ... You\'ve got to see it to believe it,\'\' Badia said. One resident, Robert Ramsey, said his wife, Rose, was crushed to death in their house by the water. There was no complete accounting of deaths, said Karen Bovek, a spokeswoman at a Shadyside Fire Department command center set up an a school. ``You\'re talking miles and miles of country roads that haven\'t been gotten to yet,\'\' she said. ``It\'s a disaster here.\'\' There also was flooding in Jefferson County, north of Belmont, in Licking County in central Ohio, and in northwestern West Virginia and western Pennsylvania. ``It\'s a pretty good mess, especially in the northern end of the county,\'\' said Clarence Weston, a dispatcher with the Marshall County Sheriff\'s Department in Moundsville, W.Va. ``We had 3.5 inches of rain in a two-hour period last night.\'\' Most of the problems in West Virginia were confined to road closures and basement flooding. At least 25 people were evacuated during the night in the Pittsburgh suburb of Etna, where some homes had up to 5 feet of water in their basements, said borough manager Bill Skertich. They returned to their homes Friday. Landslides were reported in the Pittsburgh area, and many city streets were closed during the storm. The flooding was more serious in Licking County, Ohio. Wayne Tresemer, the county\'s Disaster Services director, said water was standing up to 5 feet deep in some streets in the town of Newark, and the fire department and other agencies used boats to evacuate some residents. Two inches of rain caused flooding in Franklin County in central Ohio and 3.75 inches of rain was dumped on Holmes County in north-central Ohio, the National Weather Service said. In Jefferson County, just north of Belmont County in the eastern part of the state, 50 to 60 residents were evacuated in Adena, where water was 6 to 8 feet deep in streets because of creek flooding. Flood waters in most areas had subsided by Thursday night, according to authorities.\r\n'),(2080,2,'Public approval of President Bush\'s handling of the economy and his handling of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait dropped in recent weeks, according to a CBS News-New York Times poll released Saturday. Bush\'s 60 percent overall approval rating in the poll is the worst of his presidency, but still higher than that recorded for Presidents Reagan and Carter at the same point in their administrations. The poll found a majority of Americans still approves of Bush\'s actions in the Persian Gulf, but the 57 percent approval rating is down from 75 percent soon after the invasion. The poll found 34 percent disapproved of Bush\'s handling of Iraq. Asked to rate Bush\'s handling of the economy, 52 percent said they disapproved and 36 percent said they approved. In August, 45 percent approved of Bush\'s handling of the economy, and 44 percent disapproved. Amid heightened concern over Bush\'s handling of the economy and the budget deficit, 30 percent said they disapproved of his overall performance - the highest level of his presidency in the CBS-New York Times poll. The poll was conducted among a random sample of 960 adults around the United States interviewed by telephone Monday through Wednesday. Results of such a poll should generally be accurate to within 3 percentage points in either direction.\r\n'),(2081,2,'Four avant-garde theater performers are suing the National Endowment for the Arts, contending they were denied funds for political reasons. Karen Finley and Holly Hughes of New York, John Fleck of Los Angeles and Tim Miller of Santa Monica filed a lawsuit in federal court Thursday asking for the $23,000 grants for which they applied - or at least review of their applications. The suit, filed on the artists\' behalf by the American Civil Liberties Union, claims the NEA ``violated their First Amendment rights by denying their applications for impermissible political reasons.\'\' Josh Dare, a spokesman for the NEA, said today that the agency had no immediate comment on the suit. Grants for the performance artists, known as the ``NEA Four\'\' in arts circles, received unanimous approval in February from a peer review board. But NEA chairman John E. Frohnmayer vetoed the grants on June 29, and last month rejected appeals of his decision by the artists. He was named as a defendant. When Frohnmayer vetoed the four grants, he refused to give any reasons, citing a longstanding policy against discussing grant rejections. In an unusual departure from that policy late in August, the NEA issued a statement saying that Frohnmayer decided against giving the four grants because the artists\' work would not ``enhance public understanding and appreciation of the arts.\'\' Congress, at the urging of Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., last year amended the NEA appropriations bill for the current fiscal year to prohibit federal support for works that ``may be deemed obscene.\'\' The action came after controversy arose over exhibits by artists such as the late photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, whose work included sexual themes. The four who sued Thursday, each of whom had received NEA grants in the past, do monologues and other stage routines that generally deal with politics, racism and sexual oppression and frequently include strong sexual content. The performers had been singled out by conservative members of Congress as examples of the NEA\'s willingness to subsidize works that might be offensive.\r\n'),(2082,2,'Corroon & Black Corp. on Tuesday rejected an unsolicited $840 million takeover bid from Aon Corp., saying it would proceed with its proposed merger with fellow insurer Willis Faber PLC of Britain. Corroon & Black said the planned stock-swap merger ``will serve the best interests of our shareholders, customers and employees.\'\' Aon, the holding company for the brokerage Rollins Burdick Hunter Group Inc., offered last week to buy Corroon & Black for $40 a share in cash, or about $840 million. Under the approved agreement, Corroon & Black stockholders would receive 7.8 Willis Faber shares for each Corroon & Black share, or $33.49 at current market prices, in a deal valued at $754 million. Corroon & Black shareholders are scheduled to vote on the merger with Willis Faber on Sept. 28. Aon officials could not be reached for comment Tuesday evening shortly after Corroon & Black issued its response. Corroon & Black stock closed at $35.50, down 37{ cents a share, in New York Stock Exchange composite trading Tuesday before the company\'s announcement. Aon said last week it would not pursue a bid opposed by the Corroon & Black board. Noting that statement, Corroon & Black said it ``has replied to Aon Corp. that it wishes to consider the matter closed and proceed with the merger with Willis Faber.\'\' Insurance industry analysts expected Corroon & Black to reject Aon\'s offer, but they said Aon might come back with a higher bid. Corroon & Black and Willis Faber are the world\'s fifth- and sixth-largest insurance brokerages, respectively. Their tentative merger, announced in early June, would allow both firms to expand in the other\'s home market and eventually move into continental Europe and the Pacific Rim. The new firm, Britain-based Willis Corroon PLC, was expected to have 1990 revenue of about $1 billion. It would create the world\'s fourth-largest insurance brokerage in terms of revenue. Corroon & Black has nearly all its business in the United States, while Willis Faber gets about 80 percent of its revenue from Britain. Corroon & Black sold its 29.9 percent interest in the British broker Minet Holdings PLC in February 1988. Aon has operations in the United States, Canada, Europe and the Pacific. Besides Rollins Burdick, its subsidiaries include Combined Insurance Co. of America and Union Fidelity Life Insurance Co.\r\n'),(2083,2,'A car bomb believed planted by a left-wing terrorist group exploded Tuesday and killed the U.S. military attache in Greece, hurling his armor-plated car off the road, authorities said. U.S. Navy Capt. William Nordeen was driving to work when the blast threw his sedan across the small tree-lined street and lodged it in a steel fence, police said. The victim\'s body was found several yards away in the front yard of an abandoned house. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast, but senior police officials said they believed it to be the work of November 17, a left-wing urban terrorist group blamed for 11 political assassinations in the past 13 years. The United States and Greece both condemned the bombing, which came a a crucial time in relations between the two countries. ``The United States condemns this terrorist outrage in the strongest possible terms,\'\' said chief Pentagon spokesman Dan Howard. ``It was a senseless and cowardly murder of a highly regarded U.S. military officer.\'\' Sotiris Kostopoulos, a spokesman for Foreign Minister Carolos Papoulias, said the Greek government voiced ``disgust at the murder.\'\' ``All Greeks, irrespective of their political leanings, unreservedly condemn the would-be underminers of the country\'s institutions and democratic normality,\'\' Kostopoulos told reporters at a news briefing. Police said the Toyota packed with explosives was parked 100 yards from Nordeen\'s two-story home in the northern suburb of Kifissia, where many American and foreign diplomats live. The blast shattered windows and blew out doors in surrounding houses. Trees, fences and walls were blacked by smoke after fire engulfed both cars. ``We heard a tremendous bang and the house rocked back and forth. Pieces of the car were thrown into our house,\'\' Panagia Kapodistria said. The car\'s twisted rear axle lay in her front yard. Nordeen, 51, of Centuria, Wis., was due to retire in August after 30 years in the Navy, said his sister, Carla Anderson. He had been stationed in Greece for three years. He previously served as assistant naval inspector in Washington, with the U.S. Fleet in the Pacific and at the Jacksonville, Fla., naval air base. He is survived by his wife and 12-year-old daughter. At the White House, presidential spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said the U.S. government would work with Greek authorities to ``bring the murderers to justice.\'\' A senior police officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, said he believed it was staged by November 17, named for the day in 1973 when troops crushed a student rebellion at Athens Polytechnic University against the right-wing dictatorship. ``I don\'t think anybody except November 17 had the expertise to pull off something like this,\'\' the officer said. A police explosives expert who refused to be identified said Tuesday\'s killing was ``perfectly planned and very well executed. ... They thought of every detail.\'\' The expert said bags of cement were piled against one side of the booby-trapped vehicle so the explosion\'s full force would be directed toward Nordeen\'s car. He said the blast probably was detonated by remote-controlled device. November 17 carried out a similar attack against the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency\'s local chief in January, but George Carros survived after the radio-controlled bomb in a trash can outside his home failed to go off. The group has claimed responsibility for 11 assassinations since 1975, including the 1983 shooting of U.S. Navy Capt. George Tsantes and the 1975 assassination of Richard Welch, CIA station chief in Athens. November 17 is named for the day in 1973 when troops crushed a student uprising against the 1967-74 Greek military dictatorship. Nordeen\'s killing came four days after Greek and American negotiators ended a seventh round of talks on a new U.S. bases agreement to replace an accord that expires Dec. 31, 1988. The talks ended without reports of significant progress. The United States has operated four military bases in Greece since the 1950s _ two near Athens and two on the island of Crete. The five-year accord expires in December 1988.\r\n'),(2084,2,'President Bush hailed exiled Soviet conductor Mstislav Rostropovich as ``a national treasure\'\' on Wednesday as he welcomed the National Symphony home from its tour of the Soviet Union. ``Your orchestra\'s long-awaited trip to the Soviet Union reflects the drama of our changing world,\'\' Bush told Rostropovich at a White House reception. The president noted that Rostropovich had received ``ovation after ovation\'\' on his just-completed tour of the homeland he had been forced to leave in disgrace in 1974. Bush said the conductor and cello virtuoso had returned ``to a place he never really left\'\' in the Soviet tour. Rostropovich was stripped of his Soviet citizenship in 1978. He got in trouble with the communist authorities at the time for his vigorous defense of out-of-favor author Alexander Solzhenitsyn. His Soviet citizenship was restored last month and he was given an official apology under political reforms undertaken by Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev. Bush said the conductor of the Washington-based National Symphony was ``inded a national treasure and America is very proud of you.\'\' Before an audience that included members of the orchestra, Soviet Ambassador Yuri V. Dubinin and industrialist Armand Hammer, Bush said: ``Maestro, you are a true virtuoso, not only of music but of the heart and mind as well.\'\' Rostropovich then led a string section of 12 cellos in a performance of a work named ``Dodecacelli\'\' by American composer David Ott.\r\n'),(2085,2,'Police killed a man once considered France\'s public enemy No. 1 during a robbery attempt at the home of an elderly widow, officials said Monday. A policeman was wounded in the abdomen in the exchange of gunfire Sunday night, and Jean-Charles Willoquet, 46, was killed by a bullet to the head, officials said. Willoquet was granted early release last year from a prison term imposed after he was convicted of attempted murder and hostage taking during a 1975 escape. On Sunday, he and an accomplice entered the Normandy home of Rosa Kahn, 81, representing themselves as policemen investigating a band of thieves, police said. A young girl called police after hearing cries from Mrs. Kahn, who was beaten. In the ensuing gunfire, Willoquet died, the policeman was wounded and Willoquet\'s accomplice escaped in a car. Willoquet was first arrested in 1968, when police said he was working by day as a hair stylist and burglarizing chateaux in the Loire Valley in his free time. He was sentenced to five years in prison, with three years suspended. He was arrested again in 1974 in Paris in connection with 11 armed attacks and a dozen racketeering charges. During his trial in 1975, he earned a reputation as public enemy No. 1 by escaping from the Palais de Justice with the aid of his wife, who entered the hearing room disguised in the black robe of a French lawyer. She took out a grenade and passed her husband a pistol. Willoquet took the judge and his assistant hostage and fled, wounding two gendarmes. He was captured a year later, months after his wife was apprehended. He was sentenced to serve two concurrent 20-year terms and was freed after 14 years. He wrote a book, ``Anything To Be Free,\'\' while serving time.\r\n'),(2086,2,'Defense Secretary Frank Carlucci today accused North Korea of trying to disrupt the Olympic Games and said the United States would beef up its military forces to stop any threat. ``Let me assure you that we will do all we can to help ensure the security of the 1988 Summer Olympics Games,\'\' he said. Communist North Korea continues to threaten peace on the divided Korean peninsula by refusing to work with South Korea to defuse the tension, Carlucci said. ``It is most unfortunate that the north continues its trouble-making role and remains unwilling to make the simple concessions necessary to bring about a reduction in tensions on the peninsula,\'\' he said. Carlucci gave the assurance to South Korean defense officials at the start of the 20th annual U.S.-South Korea security conference to discuss mutual defense. South Korea Defense Minister Oh Ja-bok also stressed the North Korean threat to the south and said the Olympics was adding to the tension. ``With the danger of their scheme to disrupt the coming Olympics remaining undiminished, military tension between south and north on the peninsla continues, thus posing a grave threat to the stability of Northeast Asia,\'\' he said. U.S. and South Korean delegates agreed during the talks to build up their early warning systems to detect any possible North Korean military threat. Up to three U.S. Navy aircraft carriers will help provide security for the Games, officials said. North Korea is demanding to co-host the Olympics. The International Olympic Committee and South Korea have rejected the demand, saying the Games are awarded to a single city. The two Koreas, divided since 1945, are bitter opponents that have clashed repeatedly. The United States has about 42,000 U.S. troops based in the south under a mutual defense pact. After meeting with Oh, Carlucci had lunch with President Roh Tae-woo and was awarded the Order of National Security. His scheduled visits later in the day with frontline American and South Korean troops were canceled due to bad weather, officials said.\r\n'),(2087,2,'Development of the Navy\'s $48.7 billion Seawolf attack submarine should be slowed until technical and financial problems are solved, says a House committee report released today. The vessel is ``perhaps the most conspicuous and potentially most costly example of a program struggling with the problems of adapting state-of-the-art computer technology into a multi-billion-dollar weapons platform,\'\' says the Government Operations Committee report. It recommends that Congress limit funding for construction of additional Seawolf submarines until the Pentagon clarifies the program\'s mission and provides assurances that the computer problems will be fixed. Spokesman Lt. Greg Smith said the Navy would have no immediate comment. Pentagon plans call for building 29 of the ships for $48.7 billion, with the first scheduled for completion in 1995 at an estimated cost of $1.9 billion. It is billed as the largest, quietest and most heavily armed nuclear attack submarines. ---\r\n');
