Implied volatility of European bond and interest rate options should stabilise around current levels until early next week after falling before and after this week 's German-led cut in interest rates , traders said .


We 're looking for it to stabilise now , " said one Euromark options trader at a U.S. bank .


A trader at a Japanese bank said Euromark volatility now stood at 14.00 for September contract , 16.75 for December , 19.50 for March and 21.25 for June .


This compared with midweek levels , before the welter of interest rate cuts , of 18.50 for September , 20.00 for December , 22.00 for March and 23.5 for June , he said .


At 1347 GMT , December Euromark futures were trading at 96.78 , two basis points down on the day .


He said the sell-off in June vols might have been overdone , which could offer value at current levels .


He said caps and floors would be well bid after the round of interest rate cuts due to the fact these rates should stay low at the short end .


The size of the Bundesbank 's repo rate cut , to 3.00 percent from 3.30 percent , took markets by surprise .


" Volatility has a bid to it -- longer-dated volatility more than short-dated because the event people were buying for has passed and now perhaps people will sell some short dated vol and buy some long dated vol , " he said .


" Long dated volatility has been low this year , so it is still at levels which are not historically high .


" It is not a dangerous level to own vol. You are not going to lose a lot and you could make quite a bit . "


He said volatility levels should be stable until markets reassess the situation after a long weekend in Britain .


Paribas Capital Markets OTC options specialist Robert Coughlan said that if volatility continued lower for the rest of Friday in over-the-counter 10-year Bunds , it should be higher next Tuesday .


He said the absence on holiday of many market makers was a main factor behind falls this week in volatility in high-yielding markets such as Italy , Spain and Sweden .


Coughlan said the market had more downside than upside potential , but a fall was not likely to be of significant size .


" I recommend people sell strangles in a number of markets -- in Germany and France in particular .


" With high-yielding markets Italy will be a lot more vulnerable in September on economic and political fronts , so I would use current the low level of vol to buy options .


" So sell options on Bunds and France to enhance yield and buy options on Italy , " Coughlan said ..


Goldman Sachs sets warrants on Continental .


Goldman Sachs & Co Wertpapier GmbH has issued a total of five million American-style call warrants , on Continental AG , lead manager Goldman Sachs & Co said .


STRIKE PRICE 25.00 DEM PREMIUM 10.12 PCT


Legal challenge to Diana delayed by jail term .


A British photographer branded a stalker by Princess Diana has been forced to postpone a legal challenge to a ban on approaching her because he 's been jailed for criminal damage , his lawyer said on Friday .


Martin Stenning started a 12-week jail sentence on Thursday just as he was preparing to contest an injunction obtained by Diana banning him from coming within 300 metres ( yards ) of her .


" We were in the process of preparing a detailed affidavit responding to the Princess 's affadavit and expected to go to court in the next couple of weeks , " said Stenning 's lawyer , Benedict Birnberg . "


But everything has been put on ice now . "


Birnberg told Reuters that the challenge to the injunction would be delayed until Stenning was released .


Stenning threw a brick through the window of a van in February after an argument with a driver when he was working as a motorcycle dispatch rider .


Stenning , who has previous convictions , is expected to appeal against the sentence .


Magistrates also ordered him to pay compensation of 182 pounds ( $ 282 ) .


The freelance photographer was branded a stalker by Diana , whose divorce from heir-to-the-throne Prince Charles is due to become final next week , after persistently trailing her on his motorcycle .


In an affidavit , the princess said that in chasing her Stenning had got so close that he twice smashed into her car and pushed her when she tried to remove the film from his camera .


Stenning has rejected Diana 's claims and said he was being made a scapegoat to scare off press photographers .


Jordan has asked an Iraqi diplomat to leave the kingdom for carrying out duties incompatible with diplomatic norms , an official source said on Friday .


The move came after Amman blamed Iraq and a pro-Baghdad local political party for last week 's worst unrest in seven years after a government decision to double prices of bread .


" Jordan has asked Mr. Adel Ibrahim , the Iraqi embassy 's press attache , to leave because he was carrying out duties incompatible with diplomatic norms , " the source told Reuters .


The Jordanian Arab Socialist Baath Party has denied involvement in unrest which it blamed on government policies and rising economic hardship .


The riots , which shook Jordan for two days , broke out after last Friday 's main prayers in the southern town of Karak and spread to Amman .


Kurd rebels to free Turkish soldier prisoners .


Turkish Kurd guerrillas said on Friday they would free seven Turkish soldiers they hold in northern Iraq under a tentative Islamist peace bid .


" ...For the sake of safety we are asking for their family members or the authorities to come and pick them up , " Kurdistan Workers Party ( PKK ) central committee member Riza Altun told journalists near the Iraqi city of Dohuk .


PKK guerrillas would accompany the soldiers , captured last spring in one of Turkey 's frequent cross-border drives , until they could be handed over , he said .


Their release has been negotiated by Islamist writer Ismail Nacar as part of a wider effort , partly backed by Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan , to find a political solution to Turkey 's Kurdish problem .


Erbakan has encouraged Nacar 's bid but has ruled out direct talks with the rebels .


The PKK often uses bases in northern Iraq in its fight for autonomy or independence in southeast Turkey .


More than 20,000 people have died in 12 years of fighting between the guerrillas and Turkish forces .


SOLIDERE shares were mixed on Friday on the privately-operated Beirut Secondary Market ( BSM ) .


A shares -- distributed to former holders of property rights in the Beirut central district SOLIDERE is rebuilding -- closed at $ 104.625 unchanged from Thursday .


B shares -- issued in a $ 650-million subscription in January 1994 -- rose to $ 106.5 from $ 106.375 a day earlier .


Turnover on BSM , which trades only SOLIDERE shares , was 8,049 shares from Thursday 's 8,757 and value was $ 850,968 from $ 918,288 .


On the official Beirut Stock Exchange , only 1,185 Ciments Libanais shares were traded at $ 1.1875 compared with 2,036 shares traded on Thursday at the same price .


There was no trade in any of the three other listed companies : Ciments Blancs , Eternit and Uniceramic .


The BLOM Stock Index which covers both markets rose 0.04 percent to 903.09 and the LISPI index rose 0.02 percent to 81.58 .


Zenith lands $ 1 billion contract , plans $ 100 million plant .


A consortium of telephone companies and The Walt Disney Co .


said Thursday it had signed a $ 1 billion contract with Zenith to make digital televison set-top boxes for its home entertainment service .


The announcement of the contract for 3 million set-top boxes gave new hope to Zenith , which has struggled with years of losses .


" This really indicates we 're back in the business , " William Luehrs , president of the Glenview , Ill.-based company 's Networks Services Division , said in a telephone interview . "


Anytime somebody gets the opportunity to enter the next era with such a big bang has got to be seen as a strong message to the industry . "


Following the announcement , Zenith 's stock soared $ 5.50 to $ 16.875 on the New York Stock Exchange .


The consortium , called Americast , said the contract was part of its strategy to develop and market the next generation in home entertainment .


In addition to Disney , Americast 's partners are phone companies Ameritech Corp. , BellSouth Corp. , GTE Corp. and SBC Communications .


Americast said Southern New England Telecommunications Corp. has signed a letter of intent to join the group , which plans to provide a home entertainment service similar to cable television .


Zenith also said it planned to build a new $ 100 million plant in Woodridge , Ill .


, to make picture tubes for 32- and 35-inch screen TV sets .


The company currently buys the tubes from competitors .


The new plant , which is dependent on obtaining financing , will create about 280 new jobs , Zenith said .


The contract calls for production of the set-top boxes over five years .


Luehrs said manufacturing will begin and revenue will start to roll in during the first half of next year .


The boxes will be made on a build-to-order basis .


Zenith will convert its Chihuahua , Mexico , analogue set-top box plant to manufacture the digital boxes .


Luehrs declined to say when the operation was expected to be profitable .


Americast will provide the boxes to subscribers as part of the service .


Its service is being introduced in selected markets across the United States .


Luehrs said digital technology in set-top boxes is only the beginning and said the technology will eventually show up in retail consumer electronics .


" We 'll build a lot of these devices into television sets , for digital television , " he said . "


Although that is not where this particular contract is headed , the fact that there is a strong Zenith presence will pay us dividends in the future . "


Zenith has been plagued by generally soft conditions in the colour television industry , reporting full-year losses since 1989 .


Last month , it reported a second-quarter loss of $ 33.2 million , or 51 cents a share , vs. a loss of $ 45.3 million , or 97 cents a share , a year earlier .


Last November , South Korea-based LG Electronics Inc. bought a majority stake in Zenith .


Robert Gutenstein , an analyst for Kalf , Voorhis & Co .


, said the contract was " not unique , but it 's big . "


" Digital is coming , it 's economic and the question is what will make the consumer happy and at what price . "


Natural Law Party says it can meditate problems away .


From the people who brought you hundreds of " yogic fliers " who claimed to defy nature by levitating comes The Natural Law Party , a minor political party that nominated a presidential candidate on Thursday .


At a hotel convention here , the party associated with the Transcendental Meditation ( TM ) movement named physicist John Hagelin as its presidential nominee for the Nov. 5 election .


The party is running on a platform claiming it can ward off problems before they occur through techniques such as mass meditation that would reduce stress , crime , terrorism and even wars .


" Social stress can be reduced and problems such as crime and violence will automatically decrease , " said a party paper .


Many party members are practitioners of TM , which involves meditating to a repeated word or phrase , called a mantra .


Some advanced TM followers contend they can actually mediate to such a point that they fly .


But in a demonstration of " yogic flying " several years ago , critics said the people were merely bouncing off the ground from a sitting position .


Huge Windows 95 sales fail to meet expectations .


A year after its massively publicized introduction , Microsoft Corp. 's Windows 95 computer operating system has fallen short of the most optimistic expectations for the software giant and the industry .


Even though more than 40 million copies of Windows 95 have been sold , making it the fastest-selling new software ever , it would have been impossible for any product to live up to the unprecedented hype of the Aug. 24 , 1995 launch , when stores around the world opened at midnight to greet long lines of customers .


The Redmond , Wash.-based company spent tens of millions of dollars promoting the product with stunts that included buying the entire print run of the Times of London and lighting New York 's Empire State building in a Windows color scheme .


But the product , delivered eight months late , has fallen short of its sales potential in part because Microsoft delivered a mixed message to business customers , analysts said .


" It did n't do as well as it could have , " said Rob Enderle , an analyst with Giga Information Group .


Scores of software and hardware companies that had hoped for a big boost in sales were disappointed when only a brief spike materialized .


" People who were expecting major coat-tails were somewhat disappointed , " said Scott Winkler , an analyst with Gartner Group .


" It 's not as though it has n't had an impact , " he said . "


It just has n't had the huge earth-shattering impact some people were looking for . "


Symantec Corp. , which had been among the most bullish of software companies at the time of the Windows 95 launch , ended up posting disappointing financial results when retail sales of the operating system fell short of its projections .


Touchstone Software Corp. had to pay $ 1.3 million in cash and stock to settle a shareholders lawsuit brought after the company 's sales failed to meet expectations tied to the Windows 95 launch .


Many software developers apparently saw their crucial holiday season sales suffer last year because store shelves were jammed with blue-and-white boxes of Windows 95 , resulting in a shortage of space for seasonal products , said Ann Stephens , president of PC Data Inc .


To be sure , sales of Windows 95 and the accompanying Office 95 upgrade drove Microsoft sales up 46 percent last year to a record $ 8.67 billion and cemented the company 's status as the industry 's dominant company .


Microsoft executives say they are thrilled with the sales figures , and industry analysts estimate that by sometime next year , the installed base of Windows 95 will surpass that of the older version of Windows , now used on about 100 million computers worldwide .


But Enderle said the figure could have been even higher if Microsoft had done a better job of handling the huge demand for technical support from customers who were frustrated trying to install the system .


He and other analysts said corporate America adopted a go-slow approach because Microsoft already was promoting the new version of its high-end Windows NT operating system , expected to be available in stores in the next several weeks .


" Microsoft sent a lot of signals that NT was going to be the answer , " Winkler said . "


Many people began to believe that Windows 95 was being downplayed . "


But now that Windows NT 4.0 has been launched , Winkler and others believe only a relatively small proportion of corporate users will elect to pay the added software and hardware costs needed to use it instead of Windows 95 .


" Windows 95 is going to do great , " he said . "


The mistake people made was in thinking it was going to be a fast , sweeping change rather than a slow , building change . "


U.S. says still committed to Cuba migration pacts .


The United States said on Thursday it remained committed to migration accords with Cuba and would continue to repatriate intercepted Cuban migrants who attempted to enter U.S. territory illegally .


A State Department statement appeared in part a response to Cuban complaints that Washington was jeopardising the accords by failing to return some of the Cubans involved in recent illegal migration incidents .


" The United States reiterates its full commitment to the implementation " of the accords signed by the two countries in 1994 and 1995 , said the statement by spokesman Glyn Davies .


" The United States will continue to return Cuban migrants intercepted at sea who seek to enter the United States or the Guantanamo Naval Base illegally , " it said .


Washington would also take " prompt and effective law enforcement action " against alien smuggling and hijackings from Cuba , it added .


Davies told reporters the statement would be distributed in the Cuban exile community in Miami " to remind everyone of the importance of abiding by the accords and avoiding dangerous attempts to cross the straits " from Cuba to Florida .


Havana 's complaints centred on an incident in which a boatload of emigrants capsized in the Florida Straits last week and two recent aircraft hijackings from Cuba .


Sixteen of those picked up from the boat were returned to Cuba but eight were taken to the United States and three to Guantanamo Bay , a U.S. base on Cuba , until they emigrated to another nation .


The most recent hijacking , last Friday , involved three hijackers and the pilot of a small aircraft .


Davies said on Tuesday the pilot could soon return to Cuba but U.S. authorities planned to try the hijackers .


In an incident on July 7 , a Cuban interior ministry official hijacked a commercial plane and sought aylum at Guantanamo Bay .


Davies said he knew of no plans to return the man to Cuba .


says is first state to apply for new welfare .


In keeping with its pioneering image in the area of welfare , Wisconsin was the first state to submit an administrative plan under the nation 's new welfare law , Gov .


According to a new release from the governor , Wisconsin submitted a plan to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for administration of the new block grant system for welfare just minutes after President Bill Clinton signed the measure into law Thursday .


" As the nation 's leader in welfare reform , Wisconsin is far ahead of the curve and ready to go under this new system , " Thompson said .


Still , the governor said the new law does not go as far as the state 's own welfare reform program , dubbed W-2 .


He said that despite the new law , Wisconsin will still require federal waivers allowing the working poor to acquire health care coverage from the state , a 60-day residency requirement for participation in the welfare program , and child support collections to go directly to custodial parents .


The nation 's new welfare reform law limits eligibility , gives states more power and ends direct federal aid for poor children .


Snoozing Vietnamese man takes slow train to Alaska .


A Vietnamese man who tried to take a snooze in a railway boxcar in Canada found himself locked in and bound for Alaska with no food or water .


Officials in the port of Whittier said on Thursday that they found Tuan Quac Phan , 29 , dehydrated , famished and terrified after sailing to Alaska from Canada in the boxcar loaded on a barge , a trip that takes about five days .


Dan Jewell of the Whittier , Alaska police department described Phan as " extremely cooperative " . "


Seeing me in my uniform , he kept saying , Jail better .


Phan 's accidental journey started last week in Prince Rupert , British Columbia , where he was searching for a fishing job , Jewell said .


" He had climbed up in this boxcar to get out of the weather and to get some sleep , " Jewell said . "


The next thing you know , the boxcar is coupled up and loaded up to a barge and headed north . "


Police found Phan late on Monday when the boxcar , which was transporting lumber , was opened at Whittier , a port in western Prince William Sound .


Officials fed Phan some soup , gave him medical care , kept him overnight and then fed him a large breakfast .


State , federal agents probe Arkansas church fires .


State and federal agents on Thursday sifted through the rubble of two predominantly black Arkansas churches that burned within minutes of one another late Tuesday and early Wednesday .


Both churches were in the Mississippi delta region of Arkansas , about 90 miles ( 145 kms ) southeast of Little Rock , and were located within three miles of one another .


" We 're investigating with the idea that both fires may be arson , but that has n't been conclusively established , " said Wayne Jordan , a spokesman for the Arkansas State Police .


Agents of the F.B.I. and the Bureau of Alcohol , Tobacco and Firearms were also at the scene , Jordan said .


Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church and St. Matthews Missionary Baptist Church were both frame structures , each near Turner , Arkansas , a small community surrounded by cotton and soybean fields .


I 'm surprised anyone could even find us out here , " said Fannie Johnson , a member of St. Matthew 's , who said she believed arson was to blame .


Others connected with the two churches said they shared that suspicion , although all said they knew of no motive and no racial tension in the area .


" It 's sad someone would have that kind of spite in their heart , " said Rev. Jerome Turner , pastor of Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church .


Arkansas has been spared the loss of predominantly black churches to arson , a wave that has claimed an estimated 30 houses of worship across the south in the past several months .


A black church near Camden , Arkansas , about 100 miles ( 161 kms ) south of Little Rock , burned in July , but federal agents have not determined the cause .


-- EVEREN Securities Inc said Friday it initiated coverage of Royal Oak Mines Inc with an outperform rating .


-- It set earnings estimates of $ 0.08 a share for fiscal 1996 , $ 0.13 for 1997 , $ 0.40 for 1998 and $ 0.43 for 1999 .


-- " Based on our simulated production , income and cash flow models , common shares of Royal Oak are at a significant discount to the industry averages , " EVEREN said .


-- The short-term price objective is $ 5 a share and the long-term objective is $ 9 .


-- Royal Oak shares were down 1/16 at 3-11/16 .


SunGard Shareholder Systems Inc , a subsidiary of SunGard Data Systems Inc , said it had entered into a definitive agreement to buy the Securities Products Business unit of CheckFree Corp .


The company said in a statement on Friday the deal was expected to be finalized in September .


The purchase is not expected to have a material effect o SunGard 's financial condition or results of operations .


Alpha Technologies Group Inc said it had closed on its agreement to acquire Lockhart Industries Inc .


The company said in a statement late on Thursday that it issued 280,556 shares of common stock for the stock of Lockhart .


These shares are subject to post-closing adjustments .


Lockhart , based in Paramount , Calif. , is a designer and manufacturer of sophisticated thermal management products .


Dutch post and telecoms group Koninklijke PTT Nederland NV 's ( Dutch PTT ) first half results came marginally below most analysts ' forecasts , giving scant grounds to adjust full year estimates , analysts said on Friday .


PTT earlier announced an 8.5 percent rise in net profit for the first six months of 1996 to 1.209 billion guilders , a hair 's breadth below the 1.210-1.236 billion forecast range .


" They were pretty much in line with our estimate of 1.210 billion , " said Peter Roe , at Paribas in London . "


As we expected volume growth was quite good ...


there 's really no reason to change our forecast and our largely positive view on the stock . "


" Coming just a million guilders under the forecast range is n't overwhelmingly surprising , " said ING analyst Steven Vrolijk , who is continuing to look for a nine to 10 percent rise in 1996 earnings .


" They 've got a very sound domestic business which is doing very well , we remain positive on the stock , " said Roe . "


We think it 's a solid performer in the Dutch market . "


Roe said he was sticking by his forecast of a 2.45 billion guilder net for 1996 .


Dutch PTT earlier on Friday repeated a forecast it would improve on 1995 's 2.26 billion guilder net profit for the whole year of 1996 .


By 1403 GMT the shares were down 1.70 guilders to 61.00 guilders , falling in a weaker Amsterdam bourse .


Dredging group Koninklijke Boskalis Westminster NV said on Friday it expected higher turnover and profits for the second half of 1996 ( corrects from the full year 1996 ) .


" An improvement is expected in capacity utilisation , turnover and profits , " the company said in a statement .


The world 's largest dredger said in March that it was uncertain whether it could hold 1996 full-year profit steady at the previous year 's 70.9 million guilders , but added long-term prospects were good .


Boskalis reported 1996 first-half net profit fell to 27.5 million guilders from a year-earlier 41.4 million .


Greek president dissolves parliament for snap vote .


Greek President Costis Stephnopoulos signed a decree on Thursday ordering the dissolution of the 300-seat parliament ahead of snap elections on September 22 .


" The President of the Republic Costis Stephanopoulos signed the decree for the dissolution of parliament , " a presidency statement said .


Socialist Prime Minister Costas Simitis announced the snap poll on Thursday citing problems with the economy , the country 's convergence with the European Union and tense relations with neighbouring Turkey .


Elections were originally scheduled to be held in October next year .


A Libyan man has been found stabbed to death in Malta , police said on Friday .


They said the body of Amer Hishem Ali Mohammed , 23 , was found in a pool of blood in Sliema , seven km ( four miles ) from Valletta , on Wednesday morning .


He appeared to have been killed on Tuesday night , suffering at least eight stab wounds .


Police Commissioner George Grech said police were investigating the possibility that Mohammed had links to an Islamic militant group as reported by the local press .


" What we know is that he was a fervant religious man , we cannot exclude anything in investigations " he said .


Deutsche Bahn H1 pre-tax profit up 17.5 pct .


NOTE - Full name of the state-owned German railway company is Deutsche Bahn AG .


The company is earmarked for eventual privatisatio


Revenue from commuter traffic 5,400 up 4.6 pct


Revenue from freight traffic 3,200 down 5.1 pct


Group workforce on June 30 300,962 down 3.7 oct


NOTE - Sales , profit compare with first half of 1995 , workforce compares with Dec 31 .


Sea lion paparazzi to keep tabs on whales .


U.S. marine biologists have trained a pair of sea lions to tag and photograph elusive whales as they cruise through the Pacific depths , New Scientist magazine reported on Thursday .


James Harvey and Jennifer Hurley of the Moss Landing Marine Laboratories in California say their sea lions , natural companions of many species of whale , can go where no man or woman has ever gone before .


" Any diver knows that when a whale gets going you ca n't keep up , " Harvey told the magazine . "


That is why we know only about five percent of what whales do . "


The sea lions -- 17-year-old Beaver and nine-year-old Sake -- have undergone six years of training for their mission .


Beaver once worked for the U.S. Navy and Sake is an amusement park veteran .


Harvey said they could accurately tag whales with a radio transmitter , and could also swim all the way around one of the giant mammals , filming it with a video camera .


Their first assignment , later this year , will be documenting humpback whale migration off Monterey , California .


The article did not spell out exactly how the sea lions manage to tag the whales but said in training they were taught to stick a radio transmitter on to a plastic model of a whale using suction cups .


RTRS - Australia Senate jeopardises rate cut - Howard .


Australian Prime Minister John Howard said the possibility of lower interest rates was being jeopardised by Parliament 's upper house where opposition parties planned to scrutinise the 1996/97 budget .


" Every time the Senate hacks away at the budget , they hack away at the lower interest rate environment , " Howard told reporters on Thursday night after attending a Liberal Party function .


Senior ministers have repeatedly warned since the fiscally-tight budget was handed down on Tuesday night that the chance of lower official rates could be hampered in the Senate .


The budget contained sharp spending cuts in areas such as the labour market to reduce the deficit to about A$ 5.6 billion .


The conservative government 's plan for reform of the industrial relations environment and to partially sell Telstra has also been opposed by parties in the Senate such as the Greens and Australian Democrats as well as the official opposition , the Labor Party .


Official cash rates were last cut on July 31 to 7.0 percent .


RTRS - Toyota Australia workers to return to work .


Over 2,000 striking workers voted on Friday to return to work on Monday at Toyota Australia 's Melbourne assembly line , ending a two-week stoppage .


RTRS - Niugini shares surge on bid talk .


Shares in gold miner Niugini Mining Ltd surged 38 cents to A$ 3.75 early on Friday following confirmation on Thursday from Battle Mountain Gold that it was considering acquiring the 49.6 percent of Niugini it did not already own .


Niugini Mining Ltd said on Thursday that Battle Mountain had initiated talks about acquiring the shares in Niugini it does not already own . "


Battle Mountain are set to take out the minorities there soon , " said a Sydney broker .


Niugini holds copper and gold mining interests in Australia , Chile and Papua New Guinea , where it has a 17.2 percent stake in the Lihir gold project .


By 11.25 a.m. ( 0025 GMT ) , Niugini Mining shares were at A$ 3.65 , up 28 cents on turnover of 108,288 shares .


South Korean students throw " irreplaceable " rocks .


Students at South Korea 's Yonsei University threw more than just ordinary rocks at riot police -- some were samples that the geology department had taken 30 years to collect , newspapers reported on Friday .


Geology prefessors were quoted as saying that their collection of 10,000 rocks , gathered from across the nation and abroad , were irreplaceable .


" These are not like missing window panes or broken desks .


They are lost forever , " said one professor .


The students staged a violent nine-day demonstration at the university to demand unification with North Korea .


Police ended the protest on Tuesday after storming the campus .


S. Korean won ends up on dollar position unwinding .


The won rose against the dollar on Friday as banks unwound dollar positions on the belief that the won would continue to strengthen , dealers said .


The won closed at 818.10 , after opening at 819.10 .


" The dollar is overbought at the moment , " said a western bank dealer . "


The central bank 's insistent intervention just above the 820 level convinced players that it is serious about supporting the won .


So some foreign banks began unwinding their dollar positions . "


NOTE - Orii Corp makes automation equipment .


( Group ) ( in billions of yen unless specified )


Operating loss 286 million vs loss 48 million


Current loss 371 million vs loss 278 million


Net loss 447 million vs loss 350 million


China copper stocks owned by state reserve - trade .


Up to 100,000 tonnes of copper held in Shanghai bonded warehouses , confounding the world market as to its source and ultimate fate , probably belongs to China 's strategic state reserve , industry sources said on Friday .


Around 40,000 tonnes of the copper have already been moved to warehouses near the northern port of Yingkou , where some of the strategic stockpile was stored , they said .


Just who owns the copper is a question that has kept traders and industry analysts guessing since the metal was channelled into Shanghai by the China National Nonferrous Metals Import and Export Corp ( CNIEC ) in June and July .


It was unclear whether or not the 40,000 tonnes had cleared customs -- which would provide some concrete indication that the strategic reserve , administered directly by the central government 's State Planning Commission , owned the copper .


Traders have said the reserve could negotiate concessions on duties -- three percent import tax and 17 percent value-added tax -- that made the copper prohibitively expensive otherwise .


But one source , the head of a Hong Kong trading house , said it made no difference if the copper was customs cleared or not .


" If they spend all this money moving the copper to Yingkou , it will be sitting there for years , " he said .


" Once it arrives in Yingkou , it is subject to monitoring by the State Planning Commission , which has to give permission for any more movement ; it is out of the hands of traders , " he said .


Mystery has surrounded the Shanghai stockpile in recent months , with traders unsure not only of who owns it , but of its exact size and what its owner planned to do with it .


Trading sources generally agreed it would be cost-effective to take the copper back into a depleted central reserve as it had already served its purpose in taking advantage of long-term backwardation on the London Metal Exchange ( LME ) .


A backwardation occurs when the spot price of a metal is higher than the forward price .


CNIEC lent around 85,000 tonnes of copper onto the LME between April and June 1995 on behalf of the state reserve , running the state stockpile down to 115,000 tonnes from 200,000 tonnes previously .


Traders in Asia said CNIEC could well have lent it to the market at around US$ 2,700 a tonne , and then paid somewhere between $ 2,200 and $ 2,400 a tonne when it started taking the metal back earlier this year .


This would have cleared CNIEC a healthy profit , which could then have been used to finance storage and other costs .


Word that CNIEC had offered the copper to European trading houses in a series of secret meetings unnerved an already jittery market .


Industry analysts Bloomsbury Minerals Economics ( BME ) said on Wednesday the motivation of the owners of the 85,000 tonnes , " whoever they are , is the most important short-term fundamental " in an already tight world market .


BME repeated in its latest review rumours of involvement by Sumitomo Corp , with CNIEC said to be helping the Japanese trader unload its copper positions after it revealed in June losses of $ 1.8 billion in a decade of unauthorised deals .


Sumitomo and CNIEC have made no comments on the talk and Chinese traders said they know nothing of such an arrangement .


Traders in Shanghai said on Thursday they were unaware of movements out of the Shanghai bonded warehouses .


They reported more arrivals that were probably spot purchases .


They also expressed concern that the tonnage in bonded warehouses would move onto the domestic market .


But these concerns were irrelevant , a Singapore trader said , despite a forecast that domestic Chinese copper demand could hit one million tonnes this year .


As with many commodities , " there is a desire ( by the Chinese government ) to keep a stockpile of the metal , " he said . "


You do n't keep it to help industry , you keep it in case of emergency . "


Companion Marble posts 1st final result .


Company name Companion Marble ( Holdings ) Ltd


NOTE - Marble and granite products distributor Companion Marble , a spinoff of construction materials concern Companion Building Material ( Holdings ) Ltd , was listed on the Stock Exchange on April 25 , 1996 .


-- Hong Kong News Room ( 852 ) 2843 6368


Softbank to procure $ 900 mln via forex by Sept 5 .


Softbank Corp said on Friday that it would procure $ 900 million through the foreign exchange market by September 5 as part of its acquisition of U.S. firm , Kingston Technology Co .


" It is in the contract that we pay ( Kingston ) $ 900 million by September 5 , " he said , adding that Softbank had already started making forward transactions to buy dollars .


On August 15 , computer software retailer Softbank said it would buy 80 percent of Kingston , the world 's largest maker of memory boards , for about $ 1.5 billion in the latest in a series of high-profile acquisitions it has made in the United States .


Net asset per share 3.02 yuan ( no comparative figure )


Earnings per share 0.14 yuan ( no comparative figure )


Company name : Shanghai Posts and Telecommunications Equipment Co


Promodes set to sell German assets - paper .


German retailer Promodes is in advanced talks about selling its German assets and the retailer 's board might decide as soon as Tuesday to sell the assets to Spar AG , Les Echos newspaper said on Friday .


It said investment bank Rothschild & Cie was an intermediary in the talks and added that unlisted German retailers Metro , Rewe and Lidl were also still in discussions .


Promodes has in Germany its Promo hypermarket unit with 36 Continent superstores , which is 1995 generated 4.7 percent of total Promodes sales .


The French group entered the German market in 1990 , buying


In June , Promodes signed an outline agreement to sell its Specia unit -- which runs 100 Dia stores in France -- to Germany 's Aldi .


Promodes was not immediately available for comment .


Following are highlights of stories in the Irish press on Friday .


Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy .


- Ireland 's biggest mortgage lender Irish Permanent ended weeks of stalemate when it announced it was increasing its mortgage lending rate by a quarter of a percentage point .


- Two investors who claim to be owed nearly one million Irish pounds by fund manager Tony Taylor believe they may have lost their money .


- A second Japanese trawler was under arrest on Thursday night as the Irish Navy and Air Corps continued a cat and mouse game with up to 40 vessels off the Irish coast .


- The Irish Department of Enterprise and Employment has widened its probe into Taylor Asset Managers to include the investigation of investments of 10 more investors .


- Irish exploration company Ivernia and its South African partner Minorco have received planning permission from the local county council for a major lead and zinc mine at Lisheen , County Tipperary .


- Building materials firm CRH refused to comment on reports that it is about to pay 180 million pounds stering for U.S. stone and concrete business Tilcon Inc .


- Mortgage lending rates are on the way up with banks and building societies poised to add around a quarter of a percentage point to their main variable rates of interest .


- Members of a County Antrim Protestant family who were driven into exile by by loyalist paramilitaries two years ago returned yesterday to live in Northern Ireland in defiance of the threat hanging over them .


- Talks will resume next Tuesday in an attempt to avoid a major strike in Irish retail chain Dunnes Stores .


- Top dealers in the London office of U.S. bankers Merrill Lynch are transferring to Dublin .


- The Irish plastics industry called on the government to support incineration to deal with plastics not suitable for recycling .


Ford China JV posts 77 percent net drop in H1 96 .


A Chinese truck maker in which Ford Motor Co has a 20 percent stake said it posted a 77 percent drop in post-tax profits in the first half of 1996 .


Jiangling Motors Corp , in a statement in Saturday 's edition of the China Securities newspaper , said net profit in the period was 3.385 million yuan , down from 14.956 million in the same 1995 period .


Turnover fell to 937.891 million yuan from 1.215 billion , while net assets per share were 1.88 yuan , unchanged , and earnings per share fell to 0.005 yuan from 0.02 yuan , the statement said .


In the first half , the company said it produced 8,333 vehicles and sold 9,018 , but it did not explain the difference .


It blamed the drop in profits on a weak vehicle market and said as its engine plant had only just started trial production , the company 's results would not improve in the short-term .


Ford owns 138.643 million shares in the firm .


The majority shareholder , with 51 percent , or 353.24 million shares , is Jiangling Motors Group .


The company , in the southern province of Jiangxi , had about eight percent of China 's light truck market in 1994 .


Waldbaum Hamlet Cup tennis tournament on Saturday ( prefix


Martin Damm ( Czech Republic ) beat Adrian Voinea ( Romania ) 5-7


5 - Andrei Medvedev ( Ukraine ) beat Karol Kucera ( Slovakia ) 7-6


Results from the $ 450,000 Toshiba Classic tennis tournament on Saturday ( prefix number denotes seeding ) :


1 - Arantxa Sanchez Vicario ( Spain ) beat 3 - Jana Novotna ( Czech Republic ) 1-6 , 6-2 6-3


4 - Kimiko Date ( Japan ) beat 2 - Conchita Martinez ( Spain ) 6-2 7-5 .


RALLYING - KANKKUNEN IN COMMAND AS MCRAE ROLLS OUT .


Finland 's Juha Kankkunen produced an impressive performance in his Toyota on Saturday to open up a 37 seconds lead after six stages of the 1,000 Lakes Rally , sixth round of the world championship .


On a weekend overshadowed by Friday 's fatal accident , four times world champion Kankunnen emerged from the first five of Saturday 's 10 stages with a commanding advantage over his country 's latest prospect , Marcus Gronholm , also in a Toyota .


World championship leader Tommi Makinen in his Mitsubishi was third but current world champion Colin McRae ended a bad week by crashing out .


After being fined $ 250,000 by the sports governing body on Tuesday , the British driver rolled his Subaru 6.5 km into stage six .


He and co-driver Derek Ringer were unhurt but team boss David Richards was furious with them .


" It 's not unfortunate , it 's incompetent , " he declared .


Kankkunen has set an astonishing pace for a driver who has not rallied for three months .


" If you do a lot of something , sometimes it 's good to have a break .


Ford had a poor morning with Spaniard Carlos Sainz losing 90 seconds through turbo trouble while Belgian Bruno Thiry dropped four minutes when a transmission shaft snapped .


MOTOR RACING - BELGIAN GRAND PRIX GRID POSITIONS .


for Sunday 's Belgian Grand Prix motor race after final


1. Jacques Villeneuve ( Canada ) Williams 1 minute 50.574


2. Damon Hill ( Britain ) Williams 1:50.980


3. Michael Schumacher ( Germany ) Ferrari 1:51.778


4. David Coulthard ( Britain ) McLaren 1:51.884


5. Gerhard Berger ( Austria ) Benetton 1:51.960


6. Mika Hakkinen ( Finland ) McLaren 1:52.318


7. Jean Alesi ( France ) Benetton 1:52.354


8. Martin Brundle ( Britain ) Jordan 1:52.977


9. Eddie Irvine ( Britain ) Ferrari 1:53.043


10. Rubens Barrichello ( Brazil ) Jordan 1:53.152


11. Heinz-Harald Frentzen ( Germany ) Sauber 1:53.199


12. Johnny Herbert ( Britain ) Sauber 1:53.993


13. Mika Salo ( Finland ) Tyrrell 1:54.095


14. Olivier Panis ( France ) Ligier 1:54.220


15. Pedro Diniz ( Brazil ) Ligier 1:54.700


16. Jos Verstappen ( Netherlands ) Arrows 1:55.150


17. Ukyo Katayama ( Japan ) Tyrrell 1:55.371


18. Ricardo Rosset ( Brazil ) Arrows 1:56.286


19. Pedro Lamy ( Portugal ) Minardi 1:56.830


Did not qualify ( times did not meet qualifying standard ) :


20. Giovanni Lavaggi ( Italy ) Minardi 1:58.579


RALLYING - BELGIAN SPECTATOR DIES IN FINNISH RALLY .


A Belgian man died and 31 people were injured after an accident in Friday 's opening phase of the world championship 1,000 Lakes Rally .


The unnamed victim died during the night , a hospital spokesman said on Saturday .


Danish driver Karsten Richardt had ploughed into the crowd during the two-kilometre first stage held in the host city of Jyvaskyla .


Richardt 's Mitsubishi skidded down an escape road and ploughed into a cordoned-off area for spectators .


A second Belgian was also seriously injured but the hospital spokesman said his life was not in danger .


The stage was suspended but the four-day rally resumed on Saturday .


A woman was killed before last year 's event when she walked in front of a car practising on the course .


$ 450,000 Toshiba Classic tennis tournament on Friday ( prefix


1 - Arantxa Sanchez Vicario ( Spain ) beat Katarina Studenikova


3 - Jana Novotna ( Czech Republic ) beat Sandrine Testud ( France )


4 - Kimiko Date ( Japan ) beat 5 - Gabriela Sabatini ( Argentina )


Waldbaum Hamlet Cup tennis tournament on Friday ( prefix number


Adrian Voinea ( Romania ) beat Thomas Johansson ( Sweden ) 7-6


5 - Andrei Medvedev ( Ukraine ) beat Jonathan Stark ( U.S. ) 7-6


Martin Damm ( Czech Republic ) beat Michael Joyce ( U.S. ) 5-7


Karol Kucera ( Slovakia ) beat 1 - Michael Chang ( U.S. ) 6-4 6-4


GOLF - THUNDERSTORMS FORCE SUSPENSION OF SECOND ROUND IN AKRON .


Thunderstorms forced the suspension of the World Series of Golf after just five players in the 43-man field had completed the second round on Friday .


Play initially was interrupted for more than 3-1/2 hours before resuming for two hours .


But play was finally suspended for the day when the storm continued .


The 38 players are schedeled to resume their rounds on Saturday morning before the third round begins .


million NEC World Series of Golf after the second round was


suspended due to rain on Friday with 38 of the 43 players yet


to finish their rounds on the 7,149 yard , par 70 Firestone C.C


- 4 Hidemichi Tanaka ( Japan ) through 3


+3 Alexander Cejka ( Germany ) through 10


+3 Anders Forsbrand ( Sweden ) through 5


+4 Costantino Rocca ( Italy ) through 15


+4 Stewart Ginn ( Australia ) through 13


+11 Seiki Okuda ( Japan ) 81 70 ( through 18 )


RUGBY LEAGUE - EUROPEAN SUPER LEAGUE RESULTS / STANDINGS .


Standings ( tabulated under played , won , drawn , lost , points


CRICKET - ESSEX POISED TO STEP UP TITLE CHALLENGE .


Essex are set to step up their English county championship challenge with a fifth consecutive victory after new-ball pair Neil Williams and Mark Ilott sent Gloucestershire reeling on Saturday .


Williams seized two wickets in two deliveries and left-armer Ilott also captured two as Gloucestershire , 252 behind on first innings , slumped to 27 for four at the close on the third day of the four-day game at Colchester .


Essex , who started the current round of matches in fifth place 20 points behind leaders Derbyshire with a game in hand , could go top if they complete victory on Monday 's last day and other results favour them .


Williams thrust Essex on course for success by dispatching Matt Windows and Andrew Symonds in his second over , before Ilott removed Dominic Hewson and Tim Hancock to reduce Gloucestershire to 17 for four at one stage .


The visitors had started the day optimistically by sending back former England captain Graham Gooch when he added just six to his overnight 105 , but Essex went on to make 532 for eight before declaring .


Captain Paul Prichard plundered 88 from 73 deliveries , hitting 15 fours and one six .


Second-placed Kent were frustrated by rain which prevented any play at Cardiff , where they have reached 255 for three in their first innings against Glamorgan , while third-placed Surrey are facing an uphill task against Nottinghamshire .


Surrey slipped to 88 for four in reply to Notts ' commanding first innings of 446 for nine declared at Trent Bridge , before Alistair Brown struck a 55-ball half-century .


Brown 's 56 not out , containing eight fours and three sixes , lifted Surrey to 128 for four on a rain-curtailed day .


Fourth-placed Leicestershire had Hampshire on the ropes at Leicester before rain intervened .


Pace trio David Millns ( 2-24 ) , Gordon Parsons ( 3-20 ) and Vince Wells ( 2-19 ) had Hampshire reeling at 81 for seven in reply to the home county 's first innings of 353 .


Yorkshire rekindled their title hopes after three successive defeats by taking the upper hand against arch-rivals Lancashire at Old Trafford .


Facing Yorkshire 's 529 for eight declared , Lancashire were forced to follow on 206 behind after being bowled out for 323 , paceman Darren Gough polishing off the innings with a burst of three wickets for one run in 17 deliveries .


Lancashire then reached 210 for five at the close -- just four ahead -- after Neil Fairbrother hit 55 in 60 balls to add to his first innings of 86 .


CRICKET - ENGLAND V PAKISTAN FINAL TEST SCOREBOARD .


third and final test between England and Pakistan at The Oval on


England first innings 326 ( J. Crawley 106 , G. Thorpe 54 ; Waqar


Pakistan first innings ( overnight 229-1 )


To bat : Wasim Akram , Moin Khan , Mushtaq Ahmed , Waqar Younis ,


Bowling ( to date ) : Lewis 12-1-76-0 , Mullally 22-6-56-2 ,


CRICKET - ENGLISH COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP SCORES .


English County Championship cricket matches on Saturday :


At Weston-super-Mare : Match abandoned as a draw - rain .


Durham 326 ( D. Cox 95 not out , S. Campbell 69 ; G. Rose 7-73 ) .


Somerset 298-6 ( M. Lathwell 85 , R. Harden 65 ) .


At Colchester : Gloucestershire 280 and 27-4 .


declared ( G. Gooch 111 , R. Irani 91 , P. Prichard 88 , D. Robinson 72 ;


At Cardiff : Kent 255-3 ( D. Fulton 64 , M. Walker 59 , C. Hooper


At Leicester : Leicestershire 353 ( P. Simmons 108 , P. Nixon 67 ;


At Northampton : Sussex 389 and 112 ( C. Ambrose 6-26 ) .


Northamptonshire 361 ( K. Curran 117 , D. Ripley 66 not out ) and


At Trent Bridge : Nottinghamshire 446-9 declared ( G. Archer


At Worcester : Warwickshire 310 ( A. Giles 83 , T. Munton 54 not


out , W. Khan 52 ; R. Illingworth 4-54 , S. Lampitt 4-90 ) .


Worcestershire 205-9 ( K. Spiring 52 ) .


At Headingley : Yorkshire 529-8 declared ( C. White 181 ,


R. Blakey 109 not out , M. Moxon 66 , M. Vaughan 57 ) .


( N. Fairbrother 86 , M. Watkinson 64 ; D. Gough 4-53 ) and 210-5


( N. Speak 65 not out , N. Fairbrother 55 ) .


SOCCER - OUT-OF-SORTS NEWCASTLE CRASH 2-1 AT HOME .


Newcastle 's early season teething problems continued on Saturday when they lost 2-1 at home to premier league pacesetters Sheffield Wednesday .


England striker Alan Shearer gave Kevin Keegan 's talent-laden side the lead from the penalty spot after 13 minutes after Wednesday 's Yugoslav Dejan Stefanovic pulled down Colombian forward Faustino Asprilla .


But two minutes later Wednesday equalised through Peter Atherton , who found space in the penalty area to meet Mark Pembridge 's free kick with a precise glancing header .


Guy Whittingham stole three points for the Yorkshire side with a goal 10 minutes from time .


To add to Newcastle 's misery , England striker Les Ferdinand was stretchered off in the second half .


Wednesday , who escaped relegation on the final day of last season , have now won their first three games of the season .


Elsewhere , title hopefuls Liverpool were held 0-0 at home by newly-promoted Sunderland , and in London , the tie between Tottenham Hotspur and Everton also ended goaless .


Frenchman Frank LeBoeuf and Italian Gianluca Vialli scored their first premier league goals as Chelsea beat Coventry 2-0 , and managerless Arsenal won by the same scoreline at Leicester .


Last season 's league and Cup winners Manchester United host 1995 champions Blackburn on Sunday .


CRICKET - PAKISTAN 318-2 V ENGLAND -- LUNCH .


Pakistan were 318 for two at lunch on the third day of the third and final test at The Oval on Saturday in reply to England 's 326 all out .


Score : England 326 ( J. Crawley 106 , G. Thorpe 54 .


Pakistan 318-2 ( Saeed Anwar 169 not out , Ijaz Ahmed 61 ) .


tennis tournament on Friday ( prefix numbers denotes seedings ) :


3 - Wayne Ferreira ( South Africa ) beat 5 - Thomas Enqvist


4 - Marcelo Rios ( Chile ) beat Patrick Rafter ( Australia ) 0-6


Todd Woodbridge ( Australia ) beat Mark Philippoussis


RUGBY UNION - NEW ZEALAND WIN FIRST SERIES IN SOUTH AFRICA .


New Zealand made history on Saturday when they completed their first series victory in South Africa with a 33-26 victory in the second test .


The win gave the All Blacks an unbeatable 2-0 lead in the three-test series .


Each side scored three tries and the Springboks outscored the All Blacks 15-12 in the second half but still suffered a fourth successive defeat against their old enemies .


Two tries from wing Jeff Wilson in the first quarter gave New Zealand a 24-11 lead before tries from flanker Ruben Kruger and scrum-half Joost van der Westhuizen in the space of two minutes narrowed the gap to a single point at 23-24 .


The Springboks would have gone ahead had not fly-half Joel Stransky 's conversion hit an upright and New Zealand only scrambled to safety through a fine penalty from replacement fly-half Jon Preston and a drop goal by number eight Zinzan Brooke .


RUGBY UNION - NEW ZEALAND DEFEAT SOUTH AFRICA 33-26 .


New Zealand beat South Africa 33-26 ( halftime 21-11 ) in the second test on Saturday .


South Africa - Tries : Hannes Strydom , Ruben Kruger , Joost van der Westhuizen .


New Zealand - Tries : Jeff Wilson ( 2 ) , Zinzan Brooke .


Penalties : Simon Culhane , Jon Preston ( 2 ) .


New Zealand lead the three-test series 2-0 .


SOCCER - YUGOSLAV LEAGUE RESULTS / STANDINGS .


Standings ( tabulated under played , won , drawn , lost , goals


SOCCER - POLISH FIRST DIVISION RESULTS .


BASKETBALL - PHILIPPINE PRO-LEAGUE RESULTS .


Results of semi-final round games on Friday in the Philippine Basketball Association second conference , which includes American players :


Alaska Milk beat Purefoods Hotdogs 103-95 ( 34-48 half-time )


Ginebra San Miguel beat Shell 120-103 ( 65-56 )


BASEBALL - RESULTS OF S. KOREAN PRO-BASEBALL GAMES .


Standings after games played on Friday ( tabulate under won ,


drawn , lost , winning percentage , games behind first place )


BASEBALL - MAJOR LEAGUE STANDINGS AFTER FRIDAY 'S GAMES .


standings after games played on Friday ( tabulate under won ,


lost , winning percentage and games behind ) :


BASEBALL - MAJOR LEAGUE RESULTS FRIDAY .


Baseball games played on Friday ( home team in CAPS ) :


SOCCER - PORTUGUESE FIRST DIVISION RESULT .


SOCCER - DISAPPOINTING AJAX SLUMP 2-0 AT HEERENVEEN .


Dutch champions Ajax Amsterdam faltered in their second league match of the season on Saturday losing 2-0 away at Heerenveen .


Ajax , who had a dismal series of pre-season results before beating NAC of Breda in their opening game , had the best of an entertaining first half but failed to break the deadlock .


Eight minutes after the interval , Heerenveen 's Romeo Wouden broke through the Amsterdam defence , left defender John Veldman standing and curled the ball beyond goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar into the Ajax net .


Ajax , without injured defenders Marcio Santos and Winston Bogarde and strikers Jari Litmanen and Marc Overmars , then stepped up the pace and looked certain to equalise .


But they left gaps at the back and on 73 minutes Danish striker Jon Dahl Tomasson rushed out of his own half , beat the Ajax defence and lobbed van der Sar .


The defeat means Ajax 's main title contenders PSV Eindhoven , who beat the champions 3-0 in the traditional league curtain-raiser , can go three points clear of their rivals if they beat Groningen on Sunday .


SOCCER - BELGIAN FIRST DIVISION RESULTS .


SOCCER - LEADING FRENCH LEAGUE SCORERS .


first division after Saturday 's matches :


3 - Anto Drobnjak ( Bastia ) , Xavier Gravelaine ( Marseille ) .


2 - Miladin Becanovic ( Lille ) , Enzo Scifo ( Monaco ) ,


Vladimir Smicer ( Lens ) , Christopher Wreh ( Guingamp ) .


Nice 1 ( Debbah 39th ) Bastia 1 ( Drobnjak 82nd ) .


Lille 3 ( Boutoille 47th , Becanovic 79th pen , 82nd ) ) Rennes 1


Marseille 1 ( Gravelaine 24th ) Metz 2 ( Traore 65th , Bombarda


Strasbourg 1 ( Zitelli 80th ) Le Havre 0 .


Caen 1 ( Bancarel 70th ) Lyon 1 ( Caveglia 89th ) .


Guingamp 2 ( Wreh 15th , 42nd ) Monaco 1 ( Scifo 35th ) .


Montpellier 0 Cannes 1 ( Charvet 8th ) .


league after Saturday 's matches ( tabulate under played , won ,


drawn , lost , goals for , goals against , points ) :


SOCCER - DUTCH FIRST DIVISION RESULTS / STANDINGS .


Standings ( tabulated under played , won , drawn , lost , goals


SOCCER - SUMMARIES OF GERMAN FIRST DIVISION MATCHES .


Bochum 1 ( Jack 66th minute ) Arminia Bielefeld 1 ( Molata 59th ) .


Borussia Moenchengladbach 1 ( Andersson 22nd ) Karlsruhe 3


( Haessler 33rd , Dundee 45th , Keller 90th ) .


Stuttgart 2 ( Balakow 50th , Bobic 61st ) Werder Bremen 1 ( Votava


1860 Munich 1 ( Schwabl 38th ) Borussia Dortmund 3 ( Zorc


59th-pen , Moeller 73rd , Heinrich 90th ) .


Bayer Leverkusen 0 Fortuna Duesseldorf 1 ( Seeliger 47th ) .


Freiburg 1 ( Zeyer 52nd ) Cologne 3 ( Gaissmayer 9th , Polster


SOCCER - RESULTS OF GERMAN FIRST DIVISION MATCHES .


Bayer Leverkusen 0 Fortuna Duesseldorf 1


Bundesliga standings after Saturday 's games ( tabulate under


played , won , drawn , lost , goals for , goals against , points ) :


SOCCER - AUSTRIA FIRST DIVISION RESULTS / STANDINGS .


CRICKET - RAIN BRINGS PREMATURE END TO SRI LANKA MATCH .


The one-day match between Sri Lanka and a World XI was abandoned on Saturday because of rain .


Scores : World XI 102-0 ( M. Waugh 39 not out , S. Tendulkar 56 not out ) off 21.4 overs v Sri Lanka .


British hostage in Chechnya describes ordeal .


A British aid worker , held hostage in Chechnya for nearly four weeks , said on Saturday a cocked Kalashnikov had been thrust into his mouth at one point during his ordeal .


Michael Penrose , a 23-year-old worker with the group Action Against Hunger , described his ordeal to a news conference when he arrived back in Britain from Moscow .


" The worst period of physical manhandling was during that time when we were beaten with Kalashnikovs and at one point I had a Kalashnikov held to the back of my throat -- cocked , " he said .


" For the first period we were held in a small room with no bed or anything .


We had very little food and sometimes went two or three days without eating . "


Gunmen seized Penrose , who comes from Swerford in southern England , Frenchman Frederic Malardeau and six other hostages from their car in Grozny , the capital of Chechnya , on July 27 .


The assailants had demanded a ransom of 300,000 pounds ( $ 465,000 ) but no money was paid by the charity when they were released on Wednesday .


The hostages were held in a house in or near Grozny which was bombarded regularly .


" During the last 15 days of being held , the fighting in Grozny was very close .


At first it was street fighting outside the house and then we came under very heavy shelling and bombardment from conventional weapons like tanks , artillery and grenade launchers , " he said .


Penrose had been working for the charity which provides food to civilians for only a few weeks before he was captured .


When asked if he would return to the mountainous region where rebels have been fighting Russian troops for full independence , Penrose said : " Not for the time being .


But maybe in the future , depending on the circumstances . "


Princess Diana send message to Mother Teresa .


Britain 's Princess Diana has sent a message to seriously ill Mother Teresa , the nun to whom she has turned several times for spiritual guidance .


Diana 's office said on Saturday the princess had sent a message to the Nobel Peace Prize-winning missionary as news broke this week of her battle against heart problems and malaria .


A spokeswoman declined to release details of the message .


Diana first met the Albanian-born missionary in Rome in 1992 .


She said afterwards that the meeting had fulfilled her " dearest wish " and the two women have met several times since .


The princess , who has carved out a major role for herself as a helper of the sick and needy , is said to have turned to Mother Teresa for guidance as her marriage crumbled to heir to the British throne Prince Charles .


The 85-year-old nun said in the past that she was praying for the couple , whose divorce is expected to become final next week .


Doctors caring for Mother Teresa in a Calcutta hospital said on Saturday that her fever had fallen and her malaria was under control but she remained on a respirator in intensive care .


CRICKET - PAKISTAN 339-4 V ENGLAND - close .


To bat - Wasim Akram , Moin Khan , Mushtaq Ahmed , Waqar Younis , Mohammad Akam


Nijmeh of Lebanon beat Nasr of Saudi Arabia 1-0 ( halftime 1-0 ) in their Asian club championship second round first leg tie on Saturday .


Adventurers start Canadian wilderness race .


About 350 adventurers from nine countries set out on Saturday to climb , raft , bike and run in a 323-mile ( 517-km ) endurance race through the Canadian wilderness .


The event , called the Eco-Challenge , is part of a growing sport known as adventure racing in which competitors test their limits for days over a perilous wilderness course .


I think it will be more physically challenging and we 'll have to go up against more diverse situations due to the terrain , " said Dr. Michael Stroud , a veteran Eco-Challenge participant .


The Eco-Challenge has been staged twice before -- in Utah and Maine last year -- and is modelled on similar races overseas .


The 70 teams in this year 's race will will trek glaciers , climb mountains , whitewater raft , horseback ride , canoe and mountain bike along the grueling course .


This year 's race , the route of which was keep a secret until Friday evening , is being held near Pemberton , British Columbia , about 100 miles ( 160 km ) northeast of Vancouver .


The area is filled with treacherous mountain peaks , ice fields and frigid waters .


Organisers expect about two-thirds of the participants to drop out or be disqualified before the finish .


The hardy ones are expected to complete the course in about six days , with first-place finishers receiving $ 10,000 in prize money .


In the Eco-Challenge , competitors race in teams of five which must include both men and women .


Team members must remain within 100 yards ( metres ) of each other at all times and finish together .


With racers carrying about 40 pounds ( 18 kg ) of gear on their backs , broken bones , sunstroke , dehydration and exhaustion are common .


An outbreak of cholera has killed 21 people in a week at Ubimini in oil-rich southern Nigeria , the News Agency of Nigeria reported on Saturday .


The chairman of the local council , Damian Ejiohuo , said drugs had been rushed to the area to quell the disease and the community needed a safer source of drinking water to prevent future outbreaks .


Epidemics are common in rural areas of Nigeria where piped water is not usually available .


Malawi 's ex-president Banda says he 's feeling well .


Malawi 's frail former president , Kamuzu Banda , said on Saturday in a rare public interview that he was feeling well despite his advanced years .


" I feel all right and I eat everything that is put on the table .


And that means I am all right , " he told reporters invited to his home .


Banda , a vegetarian teetotaller believed to be 97 , walked unaided but supporting himself on a walking stick .


He clutched a fly whisk which for a long time symbolised his obsession with power .


His health was the subject of much recent speculation .


Malawi 's undisputed ruler for three decades , he lost power in the first all-party elections in 1994 .


He spent a year under house arrest and was tried but acquitted last year on charges of ordering the murder of four opponents in 1983 .


Zimbabwe fires striking civil servants .


The Zimbabwean government fired thousands of workers on Saturday for defying an order to end a strike which has crippled essential services and disrupted international and domestic flights .


The Public Service Commission ( PSC ) said in a statement that the workers -- including nurses , junior doctors , mortuary attendants , customs officers and firefighters -- would be barred from entering their workplaces on Monday .


" All civil servants who did not return to work at their normal working hours , and remained working for the full working day on 23 August 1996 , have been summarily dismissed ...


with immediate effect , " it said in a statement .


Union officials from the Public Service Association ( PSA ) were unavailable for comment .


Public Service , Labour and Social Welfare Minister Florence Chitauro told state radio her ministry had already begun recruiting other people to replace the strikers , sub-contracting some of the work to private firms .


The government had been threatening to fire the workers since the strike began on Tuesday , saying it was illegal .


But the strikers ignored the threat and vowed to stay on the streets until their demands for wage rises of 30 to 60 percent were met .


The stoppage has left essential services stretched with many hospitals handling only emergency cases under senior doctors with the help of army medical personnel and the Red Cross .


Some internal services were cancelled , leaving tourists at the Victoria Falls resort stranded , and flights abroad were delayed .


The PSA said 80 percent of the country 's 180,000 civil servants took part in the strike which is a rare challenge to President Robert Mugabe , who has been in power since independence from Britain in 1980 .


Opposition parties , civic organisations and private-sector unions have expressed support for the action and denounced the government 's pay rises of up to eight percent for its workers .


Civil servants earn on average Z$ 1,000 ( $ 100 ) a month .


They say their pay has not kept up at all with inflation , currently running at 22 percent .


Rwanda says Zaire expels 28 Rwandan refugees .


Rwanda said on Saturday that Zaire had expelled 28 Rwandan Hutu refugees accused of being " trouble-makers " in camps in eastern Zaire .


Captain Firmin Gatera , spokesman for the Tutsi-dominated Rwandan army , told Reuters in Kigali that 17 of the 28 refugees handed over on Friday from the Zairean town of Goma had been soldiers in the former Hutu army which fled to Zaire in 1994 after being defeated by Tutsi forces in Rwanda 's civil war .


Zairean Prime Minister Kengo wa Dondo said on Thursday in a visit to Rwanda that his country would expell all the refugees back to Rwanda but he gave no timeframe .


Zaire is home to 1.1 million Rwandan Hutu refugees who fled three months of civil war in 1994 .


Many had taken part in the genocide that year of one million people , mostly Tutsis , and refuse to go home for fear of reprisal at the hands of the new Tutsi-dominated government in Kigali .


Gatera said the refugees were handed over following a deal made at a meeting between the governor of Zaire 's north Kivu region and his counterpart in the Rwandan border town of Gisenyi .


" After a meeting between the governor of north Kivu and the prefect of Gisenyi , 28 prisoners ( refugees ) were handed over to Rwandan authorities on Friday , " Gatera said . "


These people are now in Gisenyi prison , " Gatera added .


Revered skull of S. Africa king is Scottish woman 's .


A limelight-loving South African chief was in disgrace on Saturday after a prized skull he brought home from Scotland was identified as belonging not to his sacred tribal ancestor , but to a middle-aged white woman .


A forensic scientist who examined the supposed skull of 19th century King Hintsa , a chief of President Nelson Mandela 's Xhosa tribe killed in battle by the British , said it was in fact the cranium of a European woman .


Chief Nicholas Gcaleka , dressed in animal skins and full tribal regalia , journeyed to a wintry Scotland in February on a hugely publicised quest to find Hintsa 's skull .


The witchdoctor said ancestors had appeared to him in a dream and ordered him to return the head , said to have been carried off as a colonial trophy by the officer who shot and allegedly beheaded Hintsa after a battle in 1835 .


But Gcaleka ran into trouble as soon as he returned to South Africa with a skull he found in a cottage in a lonely Highland forest near Inverness .


He said the spirit of a hurricane had guided him there .


Members of the Xhosa royal family , branding Gcaleka a charlatan , confiscated the head and sent it for tests to a forensic scientist , who examined the shape of the skull and the hole that he determined had not come , as supposed , from a bullet .


" It can be stated beyond reasonable doubt that this skull is not that of the late king , " the scientist said in a statement .


Sudan arrests opposition sewing machine smugglers .


Sudanese police have arrested three people trying to smuggle sewing machines and army clothing to Sudanese opposition groups in Eritrea , an official newspaper reported on Saturday .


The government-owned al-Ingaz al-Watani said the smugglers were caught in Banat in the eastern state of Kassala , on the border with Eritrea , and had confessed they were on their way to " the so-called alliance forces which have been undertaking subversive operations on the eastern border " .


Authorities in Kassala said opposition forces based in Eritrea have been laying landmines and stealing vehicles and other goods to smuggle them across the border into Eritrea .


Sudan accuses the Eritrean authorities of providing support to Sudanese opposition elements based in Eritrea .


Eritrea cut diplomatic ties with Sudan in 1994 , accusing it of training rebels to make raids into Eritrea .


The exiled National Democratic Alliance , a Sudanese umbrella opposition group , has its headquarters in the Eritrean capital Asmara .


Albanian Socialists start landmark reform congress .


Albania 's opposition Socialist Party began a two-day congress on Saturday to discuss major jettisoning its links with almost half a century of Stalinist dictatorship in the Balkan country .


" The congress will approve new concepts that will turn the party into a Social-Democratic and electoral party , not a class and ideological one , " the Socialist Zeri i Popullit daily said in an editorial .


Jailed Socialist leader Fatos Nano made the first call for change in July , a month after the party 's chief opponents , the conservative Democrats of President Sali Berisha , almost swept the board in a disputed general election .


The Socialists , reformed heirs to the communists , pulled out of the poll saying it was a sham .


Acting Socialist leader Servet Pellumbi has said he too will urge the party to scrap the ideas of Karl Marx at the congress .


The pro-reform stance of some of the party leadership initially caused a storm and triggered the resignation last month of the party 's Secretary-General Gramoz Ruci .


More recently political commentators have reported a growing consensus , however , and a rift at the meeting looks increasingly unlikely .


Nicaraguan president to go to U.S. for medical care .


Nicaraguan President Violeta Chamorro was due to fly to the United States on Saturday for a medical check-up to determine if surgery was needed on the lower part of her spinal column , the government said on Friday .


Chamorro has complained of lower back pain since her trip to Taiwan in May , when the pain forced her to go to Taipei University Hospital for an examination .


Chamorro , 66 , suffers from osteoporosis , a disease that weakens the bones , and has repeatedly flown to Washington for treatment by her longtime doctor , Sam Wilson .


Nepal wo n't help split Tibet , king tells China .


King Birendra of Nepal has told China his nation will not become the tool of people who want Tibetan independence from Beijing , the official China Daily newspaper said on Saturday .


King Birendra , in Tibet at the start of a one-week unofficial visit to China , said the Nepalese government had " maintained a sharp vigilance against such intentions " , the newspaper said .


Nepal shares a long mountain border with the restive Himalayan region , where opposition to Beijing 's four-decade rule is widespread .


Chinese official media has often accused foreign forces , notably the United States , of seeking to support Tibetan independence activists .


King Birenda told Gyaicain Norbu , chairman of the Tibetan government , that Nepal would not " become a tool for others to split Tibet " , the newspaper said .


Gyaicain told the royal visitor increased cooperation between Nepal and Tibet was possible in the fields of trade , tourism , communications and sports , it said .


Iran hangs two men for drug trafficking .


Iran has hanged two drug traffickers in the southern city of Shiraz , the evening newspaper Resalat reported on Saturday .


The two Iranian men were arrested in July with 419 kilograms ( 924 lbs ) of opium after they opened fire on police and killed a pedestrain and wounded four , the newspaper quoted a police commander as saying .


Resalat said the executions were ordered by the Islamic Revolutionary Court .


One of the men , who killed the pedestrian , was hanged at the site of the crime and the other was executed in Adel prison in Shiraz , the newspaper said .


Possession of 30 grammes ( just over an ounce ) of heroin or five kg ( 11 lb ) of opium is punishable by death in Iran .


More than 1,000 people have been executed in drug-related cases since the law took effect in 1989 .


Iran has an estimated one million drug addicts and is a key transit route for drugs , mostly opium , smuggled to Europe through Afghanistan and Pakistan -- the so called " Golden Crescent . "


Main Tunisian opposition party ousted from HQ .


Tunisia 's main opposition party on Saturday announced that it had been ousted from its headquarters building by a court decision for failing to pay the rent .


Mohamed Ali Khalfallah , spokesman for the Movement of Socialist Democrats ( MDS ) said that a bailiff who was accompagnied by policemen , on Saturday ordered the party to leave the building .


" We were not allowed a delay to enable us to transfer the movement 's goods and documents , " Khalfallah added in a statement .


The MDS was represented in court and admitted owing money for rent but did not give details .


MDS this year lost its president and vice-president , both of whom were tried and given jail sentences .


MDS president Mohamed Moada was sentenced last February to 11 years in jail on charges of having secret contacts with Libyan agents and receiving money from Tripoli .


Vice-president Khemais Chammari last July was sentenced to five years in prison on a charge of disclosing secrets of judicial proceedings in Moada 's affair .


To replace Moada , the MDS after the trial named Khalfallah as " coordinator " but Ismail Boulahya , the last of the MDS founding members still politically active , claimed the title of president , causing a new split within the movement .


MDS was founded in 1978 by a group led by Ahmed Mestiri , who withdrew from politics in 1992 .


Succeeding him as head of the movement , Moada , an Arab nationalist , ousted liberals led by MDS secretary-general Mustapha Ben Jaafar in 1993 .


Kurdish group says two killed in Iraqi shelling .


An Iraqi Kurdish guerrilla group on Saturday accused Iraqi government forces of killing two civilians in shelling in northern Iraq , the Iranian news agency IRNA reported .


IRNA said it was monitoring a report from a radio station affiliated to the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan ( PUK ) .


" Iraqi army heavily shelled the Kanie Karzhala camp , west of Arbil , on Friday ...


Two civilians were killed in the Iraqi bombing , " IRNA quoted the radio report as saying .


The PUK-run radio on Friday said Iraqi heavy artillery was pounding its positions in Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq but it gave no details of casualties .


There was no independent confirmation of the reports .


The rival Kurdistan Democratic Party ( KDP ) , which accuses Iran of supporting the PUK , said on Thursday that its forces had halted an Iranian-backed attack by thousands of PUK fighters .


The United States said in Washington on Friday that it had brokered a ceasefire to end six days of fighting between the two main Kurdish factions and persuaded them to attend U.S.-mediated peace talks next month .


The clashes , shattering a ceasefire negotiated last year by Washington , had threatened a U.S.-led peace plan to unite the Kurdish region against Iraqi President Saddam Hussein .


U.S. , British and French planes have been patrolling the skies of northern Iraq since shortly after the 1991 Gulf War to shield Iraq 's Kurds from any attack by Iraqi troops .


Iran accuses Iraq of ceasefire violations .


Iran has accused Iraq of violating the ceasefire ending their 1980-88 war some 32 times between the end of March and May 31 this year , the Iranian news agency IRNA reported on Saturday .


Iran 's deputy representative to the United Nations , Majid Takht Ravanchi , made the allegations in a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali on Friday , the agency said .


" The Islamic Republic of Iran has reported some 32 new cases of ceasefire violations by the Iraqi regime between March 31 and May 31 , 1996 , " it reported from New York .


It said violations included constructing observation posts , installing mortars and anti-aircraft cannons , setting up tents , penetrating Iranian territory , and firing rifle grenades towards Iranian territory .


The eight-year war between the two countries ended with a U.N.-sponsored ceasefire .


These are some of the leading stories in the official Iraqi press on Saturday .


Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy .


- Istanbul chamber of commerce urges Ankara to resume trade with Iraq .


- Offers from Arab and foreign companies to supply Iraq with goods .


- Four ships unload tonnes of Iraq-bound sugar at Jordan 's Aqaba .


- Editorial blames U.S. for latest flare-up of fighting between Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq .


- Black market booms in the shadow of state-run supermarkets .


- Parliament completes draft law on protection of river waters in Iraq .


- Iraq denounces violation of airspace by U.S. warplanes .


- Editorial lambasts Jalal Talabani , leader of a Kurdish rebel faction in the north , for liaising with Iran in its fight against rivals .


- Blaming Iraq for riots in Jordan is a dirty game .


President Bill Clinton has served notice he intends to be busy " making news " -- or at least doing things that look and sound like it in a campaign year .


With Democrats gathering in Chicago to start a convention on Monday to nominate him for a second term as president , Clinton plans a steady parade of events designed to highlight his leadership and dim the glow of the just-concluded Republican conclave that gave a boost to rival Bob Dole .


After a week of carefully orchestrated events signing into law bills passed by the Republican-controlled Congress , Clinton used his Saturday radio address to the nation to proudly " announce " a development in the war on crime .


" Sixty days ago I directed the attorney general to draw up a plan for a national registry of sex offenders , " Clinton said . "


" Today I am pleased to announce that we are following through on our commitment to keep track of these criminals , not just in a single state but wherever they go , " he said .


Actually , creation of such a registry was underway without Clinton lifting a finger .


Attorney General Janet Reno 's report -- all nine pages of it , including footnotes -- offers only the interim services of the FBI until a formal registry on sex offenders has been established .


Two months ago , Clinton announced he wanted an interim effort established .


Now , 60 days later , he had a chance to talk about it again .


It is an example of Clinton 's strategic planning as he heads into the stretch drive for the Nov. 5 presidential election .


Such things do not happen by chance in the Clinton White House , they are part of his political chess game .


In the past week Clinton signed into law an increase in the minimium wage , a bill that makes it easier for someone with a pre-existing health problem to change jobs , and sweeping changes overhauling the nation 's welfare system .


" America can look back on a week of remarkable achievement , " Clinton said , without even a passing reference to the Republican majority in the House and Senate .


" America is on the right track offering more opportunity , demanding more responsibility , building a stronger community , the sense of shared values and stronger families , " he said in striking the theme of his coming week .


According to a senior campaign official , Clinton " will be making a lot of news in the coming week -- something different each day . "


Clinton departs on Sunday on a four-day train trip through West Virginia , Kentucky , Ohio , Michigan and Indiana while fellow Democrats are gathered in Chicago .


" He 'll make news during the day ... and then at night the attention will go to the convention , " said the campaign official . "


Although officials decline to say just what each day 's " news " will be , the intent is to put a focus on Clinton himself and not just those attending the party 's convention .


Each day of the trip will have a late start , so that network television correspondents will be able to do live reports for morning programmes .


Campaign officials then hope the day 's " news " event will be showcased on evening television news shows as a lead-in for that night 's convention programme .


" We 'll be concentrating ... on supporting the president as he is on the trip and making significant public policy statements related to some of his plans for the future , " said White House Press Secretary Mike McCurry .


McCurry said that when Clinton delivers his acceptance address on Thursday night to fellow Democrats and a national television audience , he will " set out a road map " for the nation 's future -- one the president hopes guides him back to the White House for four more years .


Hurricane expected to veer north of Caribbean .


Hurricane Edouard grew stronger on Saturday as it swirled across the Atlantic Ocean , but forecasters at the National Hurricane Center said the storm would likely swing north and miss the Caribbean .


" Edouard is getting stronger and stronger , and it already has winds of 105 mph ( 185 kph ) , " said hurricane forecaster Lixion Avila .


" But the good news is that all our computer models indicate Edouard is going to turn to the west-northwest on Sunday and miss the islands , " he added .


At 11 a.m. EDT ( 1500 GMT ) , Edouard was 1,130 miles east of the Lesser Antilles and moving west at 14 mph ( 25 kph ) .


Its exact position was latitude 14.5 north , longitude 44.2 west .


France hands suspected ETA member to Spain .


France on Saturday handed a suspected member of the Basque separatist group ETA to Spanish authorities , French Interior Ministry officials said .


Ignacio Olascoaga Mugica , who had just ended a prison sentence in France , is suspected of having taken part in several guerrilla attacks in Spain .


ETA ( Basque Homeland and Freedom ) has killed about 800 people in its campaign for an independent Basque state since the 1960s .


German troops to remain in Bosnia for 1997--Ruehe .


Defence Minister Volker Ruehe said that German troops would stay on in Bosnia next year as part of an international force to ensure the establishment of peace , a newspaper reported on Saturday .


The current NATO-led peace force ( IFOR ) in Bosnia is due to return home at the end of the year .


But Ruehe told Bild am Sonntag in an interview that a " new and different mandate " for the troops would be agreed on for next year after the current mandate expires in December .


" After the ( Bosnian ) elections ( on September 14 ) the troops will start being reduced from the beginning of October from 60,000 to about 20,000 .


A completely new and different mandate will be agreed for next year , " Ruehe said .


" The defence ministers will begin negotiations for this at the beginning of September at a NATO meeting , " he told the newspaper in an interview , excerpts of which were released ahead of publication on Sunday .


" But we must avoid giving the impression this peace deployment in former Yugoslavia is being perceived in the long run as an occupation .


On the other hand we must prevent any return of war and massacres " he said .


Italian comics hope independence-joke 's on Bossi .


A group of Italian comics hope the joke will be on separatist leader Umberto Bossi next month when they lead the ancient Etruscan town of Orvieto in a mock split from Rome .


Orvieto mayor Stefano Cimicchi said the comics , including popular actor Roberto Benigni , would declare Orvieto " capital of Etruria " on September 15 -- the day Bossi plans a march across the north in favour of independence from Rome .


" We will then proceed with the annexation of Sardinia , Corsica and Cyprus , " Cimicchi told reporters on Saturday .


He said the city council would be " ironically present " when the comics made their proclamation on the same day Bossi has threatened to declare the birth of Padania , the name he has given to northern Italy .


Orvieto , located in Umbria between Rome and Florence , was once the capital of Etruria , an ancient federation of 12 Etruscan towns .


" We want to pop some air out of this balloon of tension that has been blown up around September 15 , " Cimicchi said .


" We want to help turn down the rhetoric in a country that borders former Yugoslavia yet in which people are still talking about secession , " he added .


Bossi has intensified his separatist rhetoric since his Northern League party 's good showing in last April 's general election , when it took 10 percent of the vote nationally .


He has recently dropped a drive for federalism , saying secession from Rome 's wasteful and centralised bureaucracy is the only solution for northerners .


Italian farmer says he mutilated four women .


An Italian farmer accused of multiple homocide has confessed to mutilating the bodies of four women after having sex with them , the Italian news agency ANSA reported on Saturday .


It quoted the lawyer of Gianfranco Stevanin as saying the 35-year-old farmer confessed on Friday to a Verona magistrate that he had killed and mutilated the women .


ANSA said Stevanin was unable to recall how he had killed the women , remembering only that he had found them " lifeless in his arms " after having sadmasochistic sex with them .


Stevanin , arrested in 1994 and jailed for three years for assaulting an Austrian prostitute , is accused of murdering five women , three of whose bodies were found near his villa outside Verona between July and December 1995 .


Two of the corpses were identified but not the third , found headless and decomposed in a sack in a nearby canal .


Lawyer Cesare dal Maso told ANSA that Stevanin confessed to beheading and dumping the body of a fourth woman in the nearby Adige river .


Dal Maso declined to comment on the alleged fifth murder , saying only that " the interrogations are not over yet " with investigators .


It said investigators believed Stevanin had suffocated them by putting plastic bags on their heads .


Stevanin was first sentenced for assault but investigators began digging in the garden of his villa after the first body was found by a passer-by .


Belgium asks how paedophile suspect eluded police .


Belgian police searched two more houses on Saturday for bodies in a child-sex scandal of murder , kidnapping and pornography that has sent a shockwave of revulsion throughout Europe .


Recriminations built up over how the scandal 's central figure , convicted child rapist Marc Dutroux , managed to prey on children unhindered for so long .


In just over a week two young girls have been found dead , from starvation , two have been freed from a dungeon-like secret compartment and an international hunt has started for at least two others .


On Saturday investigators with dogs trained to find bodies searched one house at Ransart and one at Mont-sur-Marchienne -- both suburbs of the southern city of Charleroi .


Belgian media speculated that Dutroux , charged with abduction and illegal imprisonment of children , must have had high level protection to molest youngsters .


They put forward no proof to support the speculation , but seized on a comment by chief prosecutor Michel Bourlet on Belgian television on Friday night that he would chase down everyone involved in the case " if I am allowed to " .


Bourlet said between 300 and 400 paedophile porn video tapes had been seized , some of which featured Dutroux .


Dutroux was charged a week ago after police rescued two young girls from a concrete dungeon in the basement of one of the six houses he owns in and around Charleroi .


Just a day later the national euphoria at the rescue turned to disgust as Dutroux led police to the bodies of two eight-year-old girls in another of his houses .


Julie Lejeune and Melissa Russo , had been kidnapped in June last year .


Dutroux said they starved to death nine months later .


He also admitted kidnapping two other girls , An Marchal and Eefje Lambrecks , a year ago .


The fate of the girls is unknown , but there has been speculation they were sold into prostitution in Slovakia or the Czech Republic where Dutroux was a frequent visitor .


Belgian police have visited Bratislava and will visit Prague .


Five other people have been arrested including Dutroux 's second wife Michelle Martin , charged as an accomplice .


The others have been charged with abduction and illegal imprisonment of children or are suspected of criminal association .


Dutch police are also holding a 74-year old Dutchman in connection with the disappearance of An and Eefje , although a spokesman said no direct link had yet been established .


At least part of the speculation in the Belgian media of high-level protection for Dutroux and his accomplices is based on leaked documents cataloguing a high degree of police bungling , incompetence and indifference .


Among the revelations are the fact that the gendarmerie was running a surveillance operation codenamed " Othello " against Dutroux in 1995 -- when both Julie and Melissa and An and Eefje were kidnapped .


They show that the gendarmes were aware that Dutroux was building cells in some of his houses for holding children , yet this information was either not passed on to other police forces searching for the missing girls or was overlooked when it was .


They also show that police investigating a theft visited Dutroux late last year at the house where Julie and Melissa were being held but accepted his word that the children 's cries they could hear came from neighbours .


Justice Minister Stefaan De Clerck has admitted that mistakes were made and ordered an inquiry at the same time as stressing there were no indications of a cover-up .


There is also widespread disbelief that no one appeared to question how Dutroux , an unemployed father of three with no visible means of support , managed to own six houses .


Death toll of Algeria bomb put at seven-newspaper .


An Algerian newspaper on Saturday put at seven -- two women and five children -- the death toll of a bomb blast in a market west of Algiers on Friday .


Algerian security forces said on Friday three women and two children were killed and five people wounded when a home-made bomb exploded at a market in the coastal town of Bou Haroun , 65 km ( 40 miles ) west of Algiers .


The security forces also said a man carrying an explosive device also died after it went off prematurely .


El-Watan paper said the blast killed seven -- a mother and her 25-year-old daughter , four young boys and a five-year-old girl .


Several people were also wounded , it said .


The explosion was the latest in series of bomb attacks in Algeria 's four-year-old civil strife .


The government-appointed watchdog , Human Rights National Observatory , was quoted this month by local newspapers as saying about 1,400 civilians have died in bomb attacks blamed on Moslem rebels in the past two years .


An estimated 50,000 Algerians and more than 110 foreigners have been killed in violence pitting Moslem rebels against government forces since early 1992 , when the authorities cancelled a general election in which radical Islamists had taken a commanding lead .


Malta police seize cannabis among chilli sauce .


Police in Malta said on Saturday they had seized 7.5 tonnes of cannabis concealed in a shipment of chilli sauce on its way from Singapore to Romania .


Police commissioner George Grech said the cannabis was found on Friday packed in 500 boxes hidden behind chilli sauce in a container that arrived at Malta Freeport a week ago .


The container was on its way to Romania via the former Yugoslavia from Singapore and was the biggest drugs haul in Malta , police said .


No street value was given for the cannabis .


A Czech coach crashed and burst into flames on a southern Austrian motorway early on Saturday , killing one person and injuring 15 , police said .


Austrian television said the coach , which was carrying 45 , was en route from the Czech Republic to Italy when the accident occurred near Steinberg , 200 km southwest of Vienna .


Most Spaniards back talks with Basque rebels--poll .


Most Spaniards would support government talks with the illegal Basque separatist group ETA if the rebels renounced violence permanently , a survey published in daily El Mundo on Saturday said .


While 57 percent of the population supported negotiations with ETA ( Basque Homeland and Freedom ) , 30 percent opposed it , the survey by the state-controlled Centre for Sociological Studies ( CIS ) found .


But 80 percent said ETA had shown little interest in achieving peace in the Basque country when it offered a one-week truce in July while continuing to hold prison officer Jose Antonio Ortega Lara , kidnapped in January .


The problem of terrorism had neither worsened nor improved since the conservative Popular Party ( PP ) came to power in May , according to 56 percent of those questioned , while 22 percent said it had worsened .


The survey questioned 2,496 people between July 17 and 21 and has a margin of error of plus or minus two percent .


Thirty killed as floods plunge Lahore into chaos .


At least 30 people have been killed and about 100 injured in the flood-hit Pakistani city of Lahore , newspapers reported on Saturday .


They said 461 mm ( 18 inches ) of rain had drenched the Punjab provincial capital in 36 hours , turning streets into rivers , knocking out power , water and telephone services , disrupting air and rail traffic , and sweeping away houses and cars .


Newspapers quoted witnesses as saying they had seen bodies floating in the streets .


Among the dead were five members of the religious Jamaat-i-Islami party who drowned while trying to remove books from a basement library .


They said thousands of people had been made homeless after a breach opened in the city canal , inundating residential areas .


Army troops were called in to evacuate residents of low-lying areas to higher ground .


Officials said the Ravi and Chenab rivers , which both flow through Punjab , were in high flood and emergency services backed by troops were on full alert .


Internet Startup funded to develop Java software .


A small team of engineers from Sun Microsystems Inc. 's JavaSoft unit said Sunday they have formed a new company , dubbed Internet Startup , to build Java infrastructure software .


The fledgling company , established in a ground-floor office here over the last two weeks , has received venture financing from Bessemer Venture Partners of Menlo Park , Calif ..


David Cowan , Internet Startup founder and acting chief executive , is a general partner of Bessemer .


The startup company 's acting chairman is Jim Bidzos , the president of RSA Data Security , a unit of Security Dynamics Technologies Inc. as well as chairman of VeriSign .


Internet Startup , which opened its doors with about half a dozen initial employees , combines experience at JavaSoft , Apple Computer Inc. , and Oracle Systems .


" Java portends dramatic changes in the way we use the Internet , " said Hong Bui , vice president of engineering of the new company after serving as a senior engineer at JavaSoft .


Java is a computer programming language introduced by Sun Microsystems in mid-1995 which has immediately captured the attention of the industry for its ability to operate across virtually all computer system in a relatively secure manner .


Just last week , Sun Microsystems and the Silicon Valley venture capital giant Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers said they had completed financing of a $ 100 million fund managed by Kleiner Perkins to fund startups developing Java technologies .


Java has been licensed by nearly 50 organisations , ranging from Microsoft Corp. and International Business Machines Corp. to the Taiwan government .


Prasad Wagle , another former senior JavaSoft engineer who is among the founding engineers at Internet Startup , said the new company aims to build software infrastructure using Java to make networked applications ubiquitious .


One feature of the Java language is that small software programmes , known as " applets " because they are small applications , can be downloaded from the server computers at the centre of networks onto individual computers for use .


In this model , individual computer users can always gain access to the latest programmes and do not need to store more software than they are currently using on their computers at any one time , also saving costs of memory and storage .


Chris Zuleeg , a veteran of Apple and a former JavaSoft marketing manager , is vice president of marketing at Internet Startup , whose Web site is www.internetstartup.com .


Bessemer has funded numerous Internet pioneers , including PSI Net , VeriSign and Individual .


GOLF - MICKELSON WINS FOURTH TITLE OF YEAR IN AKRON .


Phil Mickelson birdied two of the last three holes to win World Series of Golf by three strokes over Billy Mayfair on Sunday .


It was the fourth tournament title this year for Mickelson , who shot an even-par 70 , after being tied for the lead with Billy Mayfair with three holes to play .


Along with Mayfiar at 277 for the tournament were Steve Stricker , who had a 68 , and Duffy Waldorf , with a 66 .


" It was very hard to sleep last night because there was so much I could accomplish with this win , " said Mickelson , who had a three-stroke lead entering the third round . "


This was a win I wanted very , very much . "


Mickelson 's victory gave him a 10 year exemption to the PGA Tour .


The $ 378,000 first place check brings Mickelson back to the top of the money list with $ 1,574,799 won this year .


" This is a major championship golf course , and for me to perform well on this style of course is a big step up for me in my career and my performance in future majors , " he said .


Mickelson three-stroke lead was cut to two when Mayfair birdied the course 's only easy hole , the par five second hole , while Mickelson three-putted for par from 25 feet .


On the back nine Mickelson began driving erratically , and poor tee shots resulted in bogeys on the , eighth , 12th and 13th holes , bringing Mickelson back to four under par , tied with Mayfair , who had parred 14 straight holes after the birdie on no.2 .


Mickelson then set up a tap in birdie on the 16th , sending a wedge shot to 18 inches .