Mushota was fired a month ago after a government tribunal found he tried to withdraw cash from state coffers without authority .


The president 's office said in a statement that Lands Minister Luminzu Shimaponda had been appointed Legal Affairs Minister , while Deputy Foreign Minister Peter Machungwa would take over from Shimaponda .


Guinea launches war on fictitious civil servants .


Guinea launched a drive on Wednesday to rid the civil service payroll of fictitious workers as part of new prime minister Sidia Toure 's campaign to cut government spending .


Deputy Minister for Finance Ousmane Kaba said teams of inspectors would check government offices in the capital and the provinces to root out civil servants who drew salaries but had left their jobs , were dead , or had never existed .


Some 50 million Guinean francs ( $ 50,000 ) has been pumped into the exercise to deter the inspectors from taking bribes .


Kaba told reporters the annual wage bill of 171 billion Guinean francs represented 50 percent of current state expenditure , " whereas the acceptable proportion in countries similar to ours is one third " .


Toure , who took office last month , has said he plans to cut public service spending by 30 percent by the end of the year as part of measures to revive the economy .


Guinea is rich in minerals and has a vast potential for hydroelectric power generation but it faces stiff competition from its West African neighbours for foreign investment .


President Lansana Conte appointed Toure , a former senior civil servant in Ivory Coast , last month to clean up the administration and reform the economy following February 's bloody army revolt .


New Liberia Council chief to be installed Tuesday .


Ruth Perry , the woman with the task of uniting Liberia 's squabbling factions around the latest peace plan , will be formally installed as head of the ruling State Council next Tuesday , a Council statement said .


Perry , a Liberian Senate member during the 1980s , returned to Monrovia on August 22 after West African leaders nominated her for the job under a peace deal signed in Nigeria 's capital Abuja five days earlier .


The formal inauguration had been due to take place this week but was put back .


There was no official explanation but politicians said faction leaders and State Council vice-chairmen Charles Taylor and Alhadji Kromah were unable to attend because they were travelling .


Liberia 's civil war , launched by Taylor in 1989 , has killed well over 150,000 people .


Faction fighting and an orgy of looting in the capital Monrovia in April and May killed hundreds of people .


Over a dozen peace deals have collapsed .


The latest sets a timetable for disarmament by the end of January and elections by May 30 .


West African leaders have threatened individual sanctions against faction leaders to ensure compliance .


Freed American slaves founded Liberia in 1847 .


Nigeria rights group says four academics arrested .


A Nigerian human rights group said on Wednesday that four members of a recently banned university union had been arrested .


" The Constitutional Rights Project ( CRP ) believes that William Istafanus , Elisha Shamay , O.K. Likkason and Jerome Egurugbe were arrested because of their role in the ongoing ASUU ( Academic Staff Union of Universities ) strike , " the group said in a statement .


The CRP said the four were arrested on Monday night at the northeastern Tafawa Balewa University .


The main academic union , ASUU , along with two smaller university unions , was banned by Nigeria 's military government last week , because of a four-month strike by teachers for better working conditions .


Nigeria is under fire from many Western countries for human rights abuses and lack of democracy .


Dozens of people opposed to the government are in detention .


Commonwealth foreign ministers are to meet in London on Wednesday to discuss what action to take , after a visit to Nigeria was called off when the government imposed strict rules on whom the mission would be allowed to see .


Nigeria was suspended from the club of Britain and its former colonies in November after the hanging of nine minority rights activists for murder in spite of international pleas for clemency .


Dutroux suspected in murder of Slovak woman .


Marc Dutroux , the chief accused in a Belgian child murder and sex abuse scandal , is suspected of murdering a young Slovak woman , the Slovak office of Interpol said on Wednesday .


Rudolf Gajdos , head of Slovak Interpol , told a news conference Dutroux was also believed to have planned the kidnapping of at least one Slovak woman .


" One of the police versions in the case of the murder of young gypsy woman in Topolcany , western Slovakia , this July , is a suspicion that Mark Dutroux could have been involved in the murder , " Gajdos said without elaborating on the age of the victim and on the other versions .


Slovak police , Interpol , and Belgian police have been following leads on Dutroux 's activities in Slovakia and the neighbouring Czech Republic where he is known to have made frequent visits .


Gajdos said the police sketch of the suspected murderer was " 60 percent identical with Dutroux 's portrait " , and that Dutroux was known to have been in Topolcany around the time of the woman 's murder .


" Topolcany and the area around this town were reported to have been the most visited places by Dutroux and his accomplices in Slovakia , " Gajdos said .


Dutroux , a convicted child rapist and unemployed father-of-three , led police 11 days ago to the bodies of eight-year-olds Julie Lejeune and Melissa Russo in the garden of another of the six houses he owns around the southern Belgian city of Charleroi .


" The Belgian police also informed us that Dutroux , together with one other man , had ( also ) planned the kidnapping of at least one Slovak woman , " Gajdos said .


" The plan apparently failed due to difficulties in crossing the border , " he added , but did not elaborate .


The Slovak police are also investigating visits by about 10 Slovak women , aged 17 to 22 , to Belgium , at the invitation of Dutroux .


The women said they went to Belgium voluntarily and police suspect they were used to act in pornographic films , Gajdos said earlier this week .


But he added they had difficulty remembering what happened during their visits to Belgium , perhaps because of drugs , and were unsure whether they were filmed for pornography .


Dutroux , 39 , who was charged last week with the abduction and illegal imprisonment of two girls aged 14 and 12 , is also suspected in the disappearance of Belgians An Marchal , 19 , and Eefje Lambrecks , 17 , who went missing a year ago .


Knifeman kills Polish beauty queen , wounds husband .


A man knifed to death international model Agnieszka Kotlarska outside her home in Wroclaw , western Poland , Polish television said on Wednesday .


The man , who said he had once been engaged to her , first knifed Kotlarska 's husband in the leg , then stabbed her three times in the chest when she tried to intervene during the incident on Tuesday .


Kotlarska , who was 24 and had a three-year-old child , was Miss Poland in 1991 and went on to a U.S.-based modelling career that included working with Italian designer Gianni Versace and Vogue magazine , the Gazeta Wyborcza newspaper said .


She had been due to fly on a TWA airliner which exploded near New York last month , but had cancelled her booking , the newspaper said .


Her attacker , identified only as Jerzy L. , 36 , was arrested by police and will appear in court on Thursday morning , television reported .


It said he had admitted the attack but had denied intending to kill Kotlarska .


Leading Russian shares edged down on Wednesday in thin volume in the absence of Western orders , traders said .


The Russian Trading System index of 21 issues fell 1.64 percent to 180.38 on volume of $ 4.38 million .


" The market was extremely quiet today , some profit-taking locally , no Western orders , " said Nick Mokhoff , director of sales and trade at Alliance-Menatep . "


We are just a bit lower with a lot of inactivity during the whole day . "


Alexander Babayan , managing director at CentrInvest Securities , said the volume of orders was four to five times lower than a week ago .


" Unified is one of the blue chips , which has more prospects than anybody else does , because they have ADRs supposedly coming up , " Mokhoff said .


UES officials said last week the board had not yet approved the final version of its application to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to issue ADRs .


UES fell to $ 0.0817 from $ 0.0822 at Tuesday 's close with 8.90 million shares changing hands .


Gazprom was the loser of the day with prices closing at $ 0.300 , down from $ 0.355 on Tuesday and $ 0.445 on Monday .


Mokhoff said uncertainty about when Gazprom would issue ADRs and about whether shares from the Russian market could be converted into ADRs had hurt prices .


" Western investors ... will be investing in ADRs and I do not think people in Russia will be able to come up with the money for the underlying shares to drive the Russian shares to those levels , " Mokhoff said .


Gazprom has also tightened the rules restricting shareholers ' rights to trade its shares .


Mosenergo closed at at $ 0.958 after $ 0.966 , Rostelekom fell to $ 2.56 from $ 2.58 and LUKoil was $ 9.82 after $ 9.85 .


-- Julie Tolkacheva , Moscow Newsroom , +7095 941 8520


Albania asks Greece to explain deportations .


Albania asked Greece on Wednesday to explain why it was deporting more Albanian immigrants , Foreign Minister Tritan Shehu said .


The Albanian daily Koha Jone reported earlier that Greece had deported about 5,000 Albanians in the last five days .


" The Foreign Ministry is trying to find out from the Greek embassy why Albanian refugees have been deported from Greece , " Shehu told Reuters .


Athens and Tirana signed an accord in May to legalise the status of Albanian immigrant workers , estimated at 350,000 , and remove a long-standing stumbling block in relations between the two Balkan neighbours .


Bulgarians recover 75 pct of confiscated land .


Bulgaria has restored ownership rights to pre-communist private owners of 75 percent of the arable land or around four million hectares , an Agriculture Ministry official said on Wednesday .


" So far 75 percent has been returned with the land restitution almost completed in some regions like Southeastern Bulgaria but lagging behind in other areas , predominantly in the mountains , " the official told a news conference .


The ministry has said that it planned to return 96.6 percent of the arable land or 5.2 million hectares to its original owners by the end of this year .


A land reform act passed four years ago abolished Soviet-style collective farms , allowing the return of 5.4 million hectares to original owners or their heirs .


German chancellor to meet Yeltsin Sept 7 - Interfax .


German Chancellor Helmut Kohl , who spoke to President Boris Yeltsin by telephone on Wednesday , plans a trip to Moscow on September 7 and will visit Yeltsin at his vacation home near Moscow , Interfax news agency said .


Interfax , quoting Yeltsin press secretary Sergei Yastrzhembsky , said Yeltsin and Kohl had discussed bilateral relations and international issues on the telephone .


Yeltsin had told Kohl about efforts to find a political solution to the conflict in Russia 's breakaway Chechnya region , Interfax added .


Yeltsin , who left on vacation on Monday , is staying at an exclusive private hunting lodge some 100 km ( 60 miles ) from Moscow .


Germany has been one of the loudest critics of Russia 's military intervention in Chechnya , a 20-month-old conflict in which tens of thousands of people have been killed .


Exiled Bosnians protest confusing voting rules .


Bosnian refugees in Hungary , the first to vote last weekend in their country 's first post-war election , found the rules confusing and some had no idea who they voted for , refugees and officials said on Wednesday .


" For the most part they really did n't understand what was going on , " the director of the Nagyatad camp Lajos Horvath told Reuters on Wednesday .


" It was confusing , they had no experience of voting , many of the refugees are only semi-literate and none of them knew anything about the candidates , " he said .


" They just voted along ethnic lines where they could . "


The Bosnian election is set for September 14 and voting began on Wednesday for most of the 600,000 Bosnians living abroad .


The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe , which is running the election , allowed the ballot to be held on Sunday in four Hungarian refugee camps .


Some Moslem refugees among the 385 registered voters Hungary 's largest camp Nagyatad have written to the OSCE complaining that they were unable to vote in contests for the president or assembly of the Bosnian-Croat Federation , where most Moslems live .


This was because their pre-war homes are now in the Serb-controlled territory , so they were voting for the national assembly of the Republika Srbska , most of the candidates for which are Serbs .


For the foreign powers which back last year 's Dayton peace agreement , the main point of the election rules is that by voting as though they were still in their pre-war homes , Bosnians should override the effects of ethnic cleansing and reassert the concept of a single multi-ethnic state .


But Adem Hodzic , one of the refugees who signed the letter of complaint , told Reuters :


" We only realised after voting that we were being denied the rights of other Bosnian Moslems to choose our president .


This vote seals the division of my country . "


Under the election rules citizens vote for a three-man presidency and House of Representatives for all Bosnia-Hercegovina and for assemblies and cantonal seats in either the Moslem-Croat Federation or the Republika Srbska .


On Sunday voters in Hungary also cast ballots for municipal councils but these will be invalidated following the cancellation of local elections by the OSCE on Tuesday .


Husein Micijevic , who also signed the letter , alleged that elderly voters were directed who to vote for by Hungarian translators who stood in the polling booth to help them .


" Probably 100 refugees were shown where to put their cross , " he said .


Seventy eight-year-old Mandolina Zelic , a Bosnian Croat who has spent the last five years in Nagyatad , told Reuters she had cast her ballot because she 'd been told to by the camp authorities but had no idea who she voted for .


" At first the organisers would n't let anyone help me but when they saw I did n't understand a young translator ringed the names I had to mark , " she said . "


Maria Szabo of the Hungarian office organising the elections on behalf of the OSCE told Reuters on Wednesday her office was studying the letter but said they had followed OSCE instructions very carefully .


" The envelopes , each with the five different voting slips , were sealed until voting and had written instructions on how to vote , " she said . "


But of course those who could not read had to be shown . "


Estonia presidential race next round on Sept 20 .


Estonia will hold the next round of an inconclusive state presidential race on September 20 , parliamentary officers of the Baltic state ruled on Wednesday .


This comes after three votes in the 101-strong parliament on Monday and Tuesday failed to give either incumbent Lennart Meri or rival candidate Arnold Ruutel the necessary 68 votes for a clear mandate .


The outcome was a rebuff for Meri , failing three times to win backing in his bid for a second term as head of state of the former Soviet republic .


Parliament 's press officer told Reuters that Speaker Toomas Savi will convene an electoral college involving 101 MPs and and 273 local government representatives on September 20 .


Both Meri , 67 , and Ruutel , 68 will automatically be listed as candidates but the election will also be open to new nominations with the backing of any 21 members of the college .


The winner has to secure a majority from the college within two rounds of voting otherwise the election will go back before the parliament .


Lebed likely to fail on Chechnya - Polish minister .


Russian security chief Aleksander Lebed faces an almost impossible task in Chechnya and is likely to be sidelined , Polish Foreign Minister Dariusz Rosati was reported as saying on Wednesday .


According to best-selling daily Gazeta Wyborcza , Rosati told the Polish parliament 's foreign affairs committee on Tuesday that the fact Lebed had been charged with resolving the conflict in Chechnya showed he would be marginalised .


" It is almost impossible to gain success in this , " it quoted Rosati as saying during a committee debate .


Yeltsin sent him there to compromise him .


This tactical manoeuvre also shows that in the ruling circle there is no unity of action , " he said .


Lebed , who has arranged a military truce with separatist rebels in the southern Russia region , was in Moscow this week seeking support for a deal on Chechnya 's political status .


But Russian President Boris Yeltsin has seemed unwilling to meet his envoy and went on holiday on Monday .


Gazeta Wyborcza quoted Rosati as saying Yeltsin was very ill and effectively on leave , but for now retained control in Russia although matters were passing into the hands of his close collaborators .


Rosati said Russia 's July polls , in which Yeltsin won re-election , showed democracy had passed an important test and the Russian people had chosed the path of further reforms .


But he said a power struggle in Russia 's ruling circles could not be ruled out , which could harm further reforms .


He expressed concern over problems in the Russian economy , saying this could lead to social unrest , the daily reported .


On Moscow 's foreign policy , Rosati said it had changed its stance on NATO 's eastward expansion and was preparing itself for Poland 's inevitable entry into the Western alliance .


He also reportedly criticised Russian Foreign Minister Yevgeny Primakov , saying his style of work resembled that of the Soviet-era 1970s and 1980s .


Romania 's state budget deficit jumped sharply in June to 1,242.9 billion lei for the January-June period from 596.5 billion lei in January-May , official data showed on Wednesday .


Six-month expenditures stood at 9.50 trillion lei , up from 7.56 trillion lei at end-May , with education and health spending accounting for 31.6 percent of state expenses and economic subsidies and support taking some 26 percent .


January-June revenues went up to 8.26 trillion lei from 6.96 trillion lei in the first five months this year .


Romania 's government is expected to revise the 1996 budget on Wednesday to bring it into line with higher inflation , new wage and pension indexations and costs of energy imports that have pushed up the state deficit .


Under the revised version state spending is expected to rise by some 566 billion lei .


No new deficit forecast has been issued so far .


In July the government gave a 6.0-percent wage and pension indexation to cover energy , fuel and bread price increases , which quickened inflation to 7.5 percent last month .


In the original state budget , approved in March , revenues were envisaged at around 16.98 trillion lei and expenditures 20.17 trillion lei for 1996 .


The state budget deficit was originally forecast to be 3.19 trillion lei for the whole year .


On Wednesday , the leu 's official rate was 3,161 to the dollar .


Costa Rica says Dutch pair kidnapped by Nicaraguans .


The Costa Rican government said on Wednesday that a Dutch couple abducted over the weekend from a tree farm in northern Costa Rica was kidnapped by former Nicaraguan guerrillas .


" Even though it 's an act of common delinquency , the case could take a difficult turn because former Nicaraguan guerrillas are involved , " Security Minister Bernardo Arce told reporters .


Earlier this year , a German tourist and a Swiss tour guide were kidnapped from the same general area in northern Costa Rica near the Nicaraguan border .


They were held for 71 days before relatives paid a ransom to free them .


Two Nicaraguan former guerrillas have been arrested in the case .


Because of the apparent threat to foreigners in Costa Rica near the Nicaraguan border , Arce said the government has advised many to take additional security measures on their own .


Hurte Sierd Zylstra and his wife , Jetsi Hendrika Coers , both 50 years old , were seized late on Saturday or early on Sunday from a teak tree plantation they manage by at least two heavily armed men who took the two off in their own car , leaving behind a ransom note demanding $ 1.5 million .


The plantation is owned by Dutch citizen Ebe Huizinga , who has since arrived in Costa Rica to deal with the matter .


Gov't dodging extradition , Colombian official says .


A top judicial official and critic of President Ernesto Samper accused the government of indifference on Wednesday over efforts to lift Colombia 's five-year-old ban on extradition .


" It would seem that the subject of extradition is unworthy of an opinion from the government , " Deputy Prosecutor-General Adolfo Salamanca said .


Constitutional reforms were proposed on Tuesday by two senators , one of them a member of Samper 's own Liberal Party , aimed at lifting the ban on extradition introduced in 1991 .


U.S. Ambassador Myles Frechette applauded the move , saying it could prompt the Clinton administration to remove Colombia from a list of outcast nations that have failed to cooperate in U.S. counternarcotics efforts .


Samper -- who weathered a year-old crisis stemming from charges he financed his 1994 election campaign with drug money -- appeared less than enthusiastic , however .


" Extradition is not on the government 's legislative agenda , " he told reporters on Tuesday .


He added that he did not oppose the idea of opening a public debate over the issue .


But he fell far short of endorsing the idea of putting Colombian drug lords onto U.S.-bound flights to serve stiff penalities in American prisons .


Salamanca , who spoke at a meeting on kidnapping in Colombia , has said in the past that there was ample evidence to prove that Samper 's campaign received millions of dollars in contributions from the country 's top drug lords .


Quake shakes Costa Rica during Hashimoto visit .


A moderate earthquake measuring 5.0 on the Richter scale shook Costa Rica on Wednesday during a visit by Japanese Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto , but there were no reports of casualties or damage , officials said .


The quake struck at 11.16 a.m. ( 1716 GMT ) and was centred 10 miles ( 16 km ) south of the port of Quepos , which is 90 miles ( 140 km ) south of the capital San Jose , the Costa Rican Volcanic and Seismologicial Observatory said .


The quake was felt for about seven seconds in most of the country but preliminary reports said no one was hurt , it added .


The quake took place a few minutes before the end of a welcoming ceremony at Juan Santamaria airport for Hashimoto , who was starting a three-hour visit as part of a Latin American tour .


Hashimoto , who arrived at 11 a.m. ( 1700 GMT ) , showed no sign of having felt the quake , witnesses said .


Barrier removed to Brazil CVRD sell-off .


The Brazilian Senate Wednesday agreed to shelve a bill linking the privatization of mining conglomerate Vale do Rio Doce to congressional approval , officials said .


Officials said the Senate vote removed all existing legislative hurdles in the way of CVRD 's sell-off .


Jose Eduardo Dutra , who had drawn up the bill .


The Senate vote also annulled a substitute version of Dutra 's bill which had sought to dedicate revenue from Vale 's privatization to regional infrastructure projects .


-- William Schomberg , Brasilia newsroom 55-61-2230358


RTRS - Arthur Yates year net A$ 6.1 mln .


NOTE : Arthur Yates and Co ltd is a garden products group .


Briton held in Thailand over 4.4 kg heroin find .


Thai airport police arrested a British bartender for allegedly attempting to board a flight for Amsterdam with nearly 4.4 kg ( 9.68 lb ) of heroin in his luggage , police said on Wednesday .


Police said James Lee Williams , 28 , was stopped at a Bangkok airport departure lounge on Monday after officials found the drug in a bag that Williams planned to carry onto the plane .


Williams ' hometown was not immediately available .


The maximum sentence for heroin trafficking is the death penalty , although it is normally commuted to life imprisonment .


PLO Council calls for halt to contacts with Israel .


The Palestinian Legislative Council on Wednesday called for a halt to contacts with Israel , just hours after President Yasser Arafat said the Jewish state had effectively declared war on the Palestinians by pursuing its hardline policies .


A resolution released by the council called for " halting contacts with the Israeli side and leaving the mechanism to carry out this to Palestinian President Yasser Arafat " .


The council was meeting in Ramallah to discuss Israel 's new policy of Jewish settlement expansion and its uncompromising line on Jerusalem since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took office in June .


Council resolutions are not necessarily binding .


Arafat had earlier blasted Israel saying its policies amounted to a declaration of war against the Palestinian people .


He also called for the first general strike in two years in the West Bank and Gaza on Thursday .


" What happened concerning continuous violations and crimes from this new Israeli leadership means they are declaring a state of war against the Palestinian people , " Arafat told the council .


Council speaker Ahmed Korei said the decision was part of a comprehensive plan to confront Israeli settlement policy , land confiscation and what he termed other violations of the Israeli-PLO peace deals .


Iraqi Kurd group says agrees new ceasefire .


An Iraqi Kurdish group on Wednesday said it had agreed a new U.S.-brokered ceasefire with a rival faction after a previous accord was shattered by sporadic fighting between the groups in recent days .


" The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan ( PUK ) leadership declares its endorsement for a ceasefire arrangement with the KDP ( Kurdistan Democratic Party ) to take effect as of 8:00 a.m. on August 28 , " the PUK said in a statement .


The PUK said the ceasefire was agreed after talks between U.S. Assistant Secretary for Near East Affairs Robert Pelletreau and PUK leader Jalal Talabani .


The KDP , led by Massoud Barzani , had said a previous ceasefire negotiated by Pelletreau last Friday was broken by the PUK .


Talabani has agreed to take part in talks in London on reaching a comprehensive settlement for the PUK-KDP conflict , the PUK statement said .


It said the KDP was responsible for breaking the previous ceasefire by refusing to endorse it publicly .


Kurd group says Iraqi troops massing near north .


An Iraqi Kurdish group on Wednesday said Iraq was massing troops near Kurdish regions in the north , where a U.S.-led allied air force protects the local population against attacks from Baghdad .


" The Iraqi regime has started threatening the Kurdish population by massing troops in preparation to attack Kurdish towns and population centres , " the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan ( PUK ) said in a statement .


The PUK said it had received confirmed reports that Iraqi troops , supported by tanks , artillery and armoured vehicles , have already penetrated some Kurdish areas .


It said the military presence reflects cooperation between President Saddam Hussein and the PUK 's rival , the Kurdistan Democratic Party ( KDP ) .


The PUK statement follows KDP assertions that the PUK is receiving military support from Iran .


Hostilities between the two warring Iraqi Kurdish factions have continued in the last few days despite a U.S.-brokered ceasefire last Friday .


The PUK called on the United Nations and allied forces to halt the Iraqi aggression .


U.S. , French and British aircraft have safeguarded the Iraqi Kurdish population against aggression from Baghdad since shortly after the Gulf War in 1991 .


The allied force , known as Operation Provide Comfort , is based in southern Turkey .


Iraq says hijackers were not diplomats .


Iraq on Wednesday said the hijackers of a Sudanese airliner were not Iraqi diplomats and added that " noble Iraqis " would never contemplate such an action .


The official Iraqi News Agency ( INA ) quoted Iraq 's ambassador in Khartoum as saying that Iraq 's embassy in the Sudanese capital had nothing to do with the Monday night hijacking .


Iraq 's ambassador in Khartoum denounced the hijacking and described it as a terrorist act which had nothing to do " with the morals and values of noble Iraqis , " INA said .


Ambassador Abdulsamad Hameed Ali told INA there was only one diplomat among the 199 passengers and crew on the Sudan Airways Airbus .


on the contrary he was harassed by the elements which carried out the hijacking , " he said .


INA did not say the hijackers were Iraqis .


The hijack started when the flight left Khartoum for Amman on Monday night .


The hijackers told the crew they had grenades and other explosives and threatened to blow up the plane if they were not taken to London .


The airliner refuelled at Larnaca , Cyprus and landed at London 's Stansted airport in the early hours of Tuesday .


Seven Iraqi suspected hijackers surrendered and British police said they had apparently asked for political asylum .


Several had brought their families along , including children .


Dole blasts Clinton for ignoring teen drug use .


Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole Wednesday accused the Clinton administration of ignoring drug use among teenagers and said if elected he would use the National Guard to stop drugs from entering the United States .


" He 'll probably mention his war on drugs , which he 's going to start like everything else -- next year .


It 's too late , Mr. President , " Dole told an outdoor crowd of several hundred at a private religious school .


He also commented briefly on published reports that the administration was planning to announce a plan to lower capital gains taxes for home sales . "


We 've had it out there for weeks and weeks and weeks , " Dole said .


Dole said former first lady Nancy Reagan was laughed at with her " just say no " anti-drug message . "


Meanwhile , in Los Angeles , Dole 's running mate , Jack Kemp , campaigned aggressively for the black vote in an area that was the flashpoint of the 1992 Los Angeles riots .


Kemp told a crowd of about 300 African Americans in south central Los Angeles , " Keep your eyes open , keep your ears open , keep your heart open .


I want to tell you with all my heart that we want to win your vote . "


In Dole 's address to a group that was largely white , the presidential nominee likened the stream of illegal drugs into the United States to missiles aimed at American children and promised to appoint federal judges who would be tough on illegal drug use .


" They 're aiming millions and millions of missiles right at these young people , whether it 's a needle , whether it 's a cigarette , whatever the delivery system is -- it 's poison and it 's got to stop in America . "


Dole said 70 percent of the cocaine that entered the United States and 40 percent of the marijuana came from Mexico . "


We 've got an international problem and I 'm prepared to use our military might .


We want to stop drugs at the border , " he said .


Dole 's remarks prompted questions about whether he was seeking a ban on cigarettes . "


I did n't say anything about cigarettes .


That 's all I said , " he replied as he was shaking hands with well-wishers .


When asked specifically if he was suggesting a ban on cigarettes , Dole replied : " Oh no .


Dole campaign aides said the candidate was telling young people not to smoke .


Dole also said he opposed California Proposition 215 which , if approved by voters , would allow the cultivation of marijuana plants for medicinal uses .


Dole said the initiative would allow marijuana to be used for anything from a headache to an ingrown toenail .


In an effort to paint the drug issue in non-political terms , Dole said three times during his 20-minute address that illegal drug use was neither a Democratic nor a Republican issue but one that involves all people .


The anti-drug message is a theme Dole feels has strong voter appeal .


On Sunday near Chicago he accused President Bill Clinton of " raising the white flag " in the war on drugs .


A recent survey showed that illegal drug use among 12-17 year-olds had doubled in the past four years .


Dole was flanked by several California Republican politicians including Gov .


Pete Wilson , who said local and state governments cannot fight illegal drugs alone .


We need to get the kind of help we used to get when Ronald Reagan and George Bush were in the White House , " Wilson said .


BALANCE-Water Dist 1 Johnson Cty , Kan .


CME lumber futures close lower on profit taking .


Profit taking continued to weigh on CME lumber futures but prices ended only slightly lower as strong cash markets underpinned futures , traders said .


The same pattern of the past few days persisted with futures declining early on the profit taking before firming late .


There was cash-related buying late from people who want to take delivery of the September contract , they said .


Cash sources noted that although the cash market is generally quiet , prices remain firm on demand for prompt delivery wood , they added .


Random Lengths quoted cash spruce at $ 419 per tbf , up $ 5 from last Friday and $ 7 over the last midweek quote .


Reduced concern over Hurricane Edouard prompted some of the early profit taking .


Expectations the storm would turn more to the north partly eased concerns , they said .


Lumber closed $ 2.20 to $ 0.20 per tbf lower with September off $ 0.70 at $ 413.20 and November off most at $ 369.00 per tbf .


WHEAT--Rains boost U.S. HRW planting prospects .


Above-normal summer rainfall in the U.S. High Plains has produced near-ideal conditions for planting the 1997 hard red winter wheat crop , analysts said Wednesday .


From central Texas north to Kansas , rains throughout July and August have relieved most of the drought conditions that plagued the region earlier this year .


" Our moisture situation is excellent , especially for fall planting of winter wheat , " said Kim Anderson , extension wheat marketing economist at Oklahoma State University .


The irony of the above-average summer rainfall was not lost on High Plains wheat producers , who only three months ago were caught in a drought so severe that old-timers likened conditions to the " Dust Bowl " days of the 1930s .


" It 's definitely a turnabout from this past year , but you know last year we had pretty good moisture about this time of year , and then about October 1 it quit , " said Mark Hodges , executive director of the Oklahoma Wheat Commission . "


Hopefully that 's not going to happen this year . "


According to figures released by the Oklahoma Climatological Survey , an average of 20.19 inches fell across the state between March 1 and August 26 , 1996 .


That 's about 1/2 inch above the average for the same time period , according to Howard Johnson , associate state climatologist at the University of Oklahoma .


He noted that the majority of that 20.19 inches had fallen since July .


As an example of just how dry it was , data showed that between October 1 , 1995 and March 1 , 1996 , the state received an average of only 4.6 inches of rainfall .


In northern Texas , the current rainfall situation was similar to most of Oklahoma , said Rodney Mosier , executive assistant for the Texas Wheat Producers .


" Up here in the Texas Panhandle , we 've had some extremely beneficial rains that came through within the last several days and are really setting us up for ideal conditions for planting wheat , " Mosier said .


But he warned that the situation was not as ideal in central and southern Texas , where mositure levels were still short despite the rains brought by Hurricane Dolly last week .


In Kansas , typically the number one U.S. hard red winter wheat producer , topsoil moisture levels were rated mostly adequate during the week ended Sunday , according to the state 's agricultural statistics service .


In its weekly report released Monday , the service said Kansas topsoil moisture was rated eight percent surplus , 77 percent adequate and 15 percent short to very short .


Oklahoma 's Agricultural Statistics Service showed similar conditions , rating topsoil moisture levels as seven percent surplus , 81 percent adequate and 12 percent short to very short .


Data on topsoil moisture ratings were not released by the Texas Agricultural Statistics Service .


First Union National Bank of Fla. settles suit .


First Union National Bank of Florida said on Wednesday it agreed to settle a class action law suit involving its collateral protection insurance ( CPI ) program .


To provide for the settlements , First Union has established a common fund of $ 4.7 million for cash refunds and $ 19.4 million in credit refunds for outstanding CPI balances .


The bank is a division of First Union Corp .


The bank said most of the charges resulted from loan portfolios from banks and thrifts that were acquired in the 1980s .


First Union said it has discontinued CPI as an element of its motor vehicle or boat installment loan contracts .


As part of the settlement agreement , customers who had CPI placed on loans from January 1 , 1986 to September 31 , 1996 , will receive cash or credit refunds , the bank said .


Cash refunds will go to those who paid their loans to First Union while credit refunds will go to those who have existing loan balances , the bank said .


Amoco says in talks over Yemen oil acreage .


Amoco Corp officials said the company is in talks over crude oil production sharing in Yemen , but declined to comment on a published report Amoco had reached preliminary agreement on a block in the Shabwa area .


" We 've been asked ( by Yemen ) not to comment ( on the talks ) , " said Amoco spokesman Dan Dietsch . "


We can neither confirm nor deny that report , " he said .


According to Middle East Economic Survey ( MEES ) , Yemen and Amoco signed a " memorandum of understanding " for a production-sharing agreement in Shabwa Block No .


S-1 in the former South Yemen , which united with North Yemen in 1990 .


According to another Amoco official , the company is not exploring now for oil anywhere in Yemen .


The officials said Amoco was deferring to the Yemeni Ministry of Petroleum and Minerals for any specific comments on the Amoco-Yemen talks .


The former Soviet Union was displaced as contractor of the potentially rich Shabwa oilfields once it collapsed in December 1991 , according to the International Petroleum Encyclopedia .


Burundi defends military regime to hostile UN .


Burundi 's ambassador on Wednesday lashed out at economic sanctions imposed by African states and said any thought of an arms embargo would be a windfall for guerrillas fighting his army-run government .


In a lengthy debate on Burundi before the U.N. Security Council , Ambassador Nsanze Terence said the new military government took over to stabilise the country and wanted negotiations under former Tanzanian President Julius Nyrere .


Nearly every African member who spoke , as well as most Security Council members , however , were unsympathetic towards the government of President Pierre Buyoya , an army major put in power in a July coup by the Tutsi-run military , which is locked in a guerrilla war with the majority Hutus .


" These ( African ) brothers should have been the first to bind the wounds of Burundi , " Terence said of the economic embargo . "


Quite the contrary , Burundi has seen economic war declared against it by fellow African people ... a gratuitous immolation of the people of Burundi . "


He said his government had just asked U.N. human rights monitors to increase their numbers in Burundi in an effort " to put an end to this vicious circle of violence . "


More than 150,000 people have been killed in violence between the minority Tutsis and the majority Hutus since 1993 .


Botswana 's envoy , Mothusi Nkgowe , said coups should be relegated " to the dump heap of history " as there could be no justification for the overthrow of a legitimate government .


Chile has proposed a resolution , still under discussion , that would impose an immediate arms embargo on Burundi and call for negotiations .


The draft suggests further sanctions against those who impede a political solution .


Among the council 's five permanent members , Russia and the United States appeared to support most elements of the Chilean proposal , while Britain , France and China were cautious .


Terence , a Tutsi , said any arms embargo would leave the army unable to defend itself against Hutu guerrillas and leave the population exposed to " armed terroritsts . "


But Chilean Ambassador Juan Somavia said : " Every weapon that reached Burundi is a weapon aimed mainly at killing an unarmed civilian .


We must not send a signal different from the African leaders themselves .


Inaction is becoming the worst possible course of action . "


Burundi 's parliament has been suspended and political parties are banned but Terence told reporters Buyoya would reconvene a new type of national assembly in October .


The United States said the coup leaders had taken no steps to restore democracy and indiscriminate killings continued .


Ambassador Karl Inderfurth said the new government should have " unconditional " negotiations with all parties inside and outside of the country .


He said Washington strongly supported the economic sanctions imposed already and if these did not work the council would consider " an arms embargo or targeted sanctions against faction leaders . "


But he said the international community had to be prepared for the worst and avoid a replay of the horrors in neighbouring Rwanda , where widespread genocide broke out against the Tutsis two years ago .


He again said the United Nations should draw up contingency plans for a rapid humanitarian intervention .


Swiss arrest Rwandan on genocide suspicion .


Swiss authorities said on Wednesday they had arrested a former Rwandan mayor , now living in Switzerland , on suspicion of violating human rights during the genocide in his country in 1994 .


The Defence Ministry said in a statement that investigations were still in the preliminary stage but it was cooperating closely with police in the cantons of Geneva and Freiburg .


OPTIONS -- EOE options volumes - close .


Workers fixing the ceiling of a tax office in Paris found a dozen seven-year-old cheques for a total of six million francs ( $ 1.2 million ) in a ventilation pipe , the weekly Le Canard Enchaine said on Wednesday .


A Finance Ministry official explained that the cheques for corporate tax payments had been sucked into the ventilation system , the weekly reported .


The companies had been contacted at the time and had not been fined for failing to pay , the official said .


Swiss bonds ended mostly higher in generally quiet activity , with the September confederate bond futures contract holding just above 113.00 .


" Today was very quiet after a lot of activity on Tuesday , " said one Swiss bond futures trader .


He said the market began strong , gave up some gains at midday and then was able to recover back at the close , but all on light volume .


In the primary market , Eksportfinans and Suedwest LB launched issues for 100 million and 300 million Swiss francs , respectively .


Eksportfinans ' seven-year issue was quoted at a yield of 3.98 percent , and Suedwest LB 's five-year issue was quoted at 3.60 percent .


Swiss money market rates remained lower at around 1.75 percent offered .


As to fundamentals , economists at Credit Suisse said they expect the country 's gross domestic product to be flat to negative in 1996 , and to grow only 0.6 percent in 1997 .


The Swiss government also said Wednesday it had made progress in cutting Switzerland 's projected spending for 1997 .


Switzerland reports July consumer prices later this week .


Sept comi medium-term bond up three at 109.45 .


Sept Euro Swiss francs up three at 97.82 .


Anti-Bhutto rally draws about 8,000 in Karachi .


About 8,000 protesters marched through Karachi on Wednesday demanding the removal of Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto , witnesses said .


" From here we will march to Islamabad and by God we will not let Benazir and ( Bhutto 's husband Asif Ali ) Zardari escape justice , " Nawaz Sharif , leader of the main opposition Pakistan Muslim League told a rally organised by a 16-party alliance .


Sharif accused Bhutto of corruption and nepotism , charges she has denied in the past .


Witnesses said protesters carrying colourful party flags walked for several miles , chanting anti-government slogans .


The event was part of an opposition campaign launched on August 14 , Pakistan 's independence day .


Sharif said similar rallies would be held in the Balochistan provincial capital Quetta and the Punjab provincial capital Lahore before an opposition march on the capital Islamabad .


" I promise the people of Karachi that those responsible for the extra-judicial killing of innocent youths would not be spared , " Sharif said .


Karachi 's ethnic Mohajir National Movement ( MQM ) accuses the government of killing many of its militants in cold blood .


The government has denied the charge and blames the MQM for much of the violence that killed 2,000 people in the city last year .


Political observers said the turn-out was disappointing for a city of about 12 million people , possibly indicating that the MQM , although a member of the opposition alliance , had not mobilised its supporters for the event .


The turbulent southern port has been calmer this year , but police say more than 300 people have died in political unrest .


The MQM speaks for Urdu-speaking Moslems who migrated from India at Partition in 1947 and their descendants .


Sharif , a former prime minister , is the main political rival of Bhutto , who defeated him in the October 1993 election .


He said only the removal of the government and an early election could save Pakistan from disaster . "


We will dislodge the Bhutto government .


Bhutto has vowed to complete her five-year term .


India ACC Apr-Jul ' 96 sales , output up .


India 's leading cement firm Associated Cement Companies ( ACC ) said on Wednesday its cement sales rose to 3.1 million tonnes in April-July 1996 from 2.93 million a year ago .


ACC Chairman Nani Palkhivala told shareholders at the firm 's annual meeting cement output rose to 3.14 million tonnes in the first quarter of 1996/97 ( April-March ) , from 3.01 million a year ago .


Palkhivala said ACC had secured government approval to take over a sick cement firm with a grinding capacity of 275,000 tonnes per year . "


We will take it over early next month , " he said .


Talking about the cement industry in general , Palkhivala said Indian production rose by about 10 percent in 1995/96 .


" The industry saw capacity expansion of about 13 percent over 1994/95 from 77.79 million tonnes to 87.45 million tonnes , " Palkhivala told shareholders .


He said Indian cement exports dropped about eight percent from the previous year because of stiff international competition and inadequate infrastructural facilities .


ACC 's own export performance was marginally better than in 1994/95 on account of a 36 percent rise in exports to Nepal and the opening of a new market - Sri Lanka , he said .


Despite power shortages , ACC achieved a satisfactory growth in production during the year with the help of its power plants .


ACC sold 9.4 million tonnes in 1995/96 , retaining its top position in the Indian cement industry , Palkhivala said .


Belgium bank sanctions $ 6.5 mln loan to India WSRL .


Belgium 's Kredietbank has approved a $ 6.5 million loan to India 's Welspun Stahl Rohren Ltd ( WSRL ) to part-finance its submerged arc welded pipes plant , the Indian company said in a statement on Wednesday .


The loan is at LIBOR plus one percent , it said .


The loan , maturing in six years , is guaranteed by Indusind Bank for $ 3.5 million and by UTI Bank for $ 3 million , it said .


The WSRL plant , located in the western Indian state of Gujarat , will have a capacity to manufacture 175,000 tonnes per annum of longitudinal pipes and 25,000 tonnes per annum of spiral welded pipes , the statement said .


The longitudinal pipes plant is expected to be complete by the second quarter of September 1997 and the saw arc welded pipes plant by September 1996 , it said .


WSRL is part of the Welspun group which has a presence in the cotton yarn , terry towels and polyester yarn industry , the statement said .


India fishermen say forced to carry Tamil refugees .


Indian fishermen said on Wednesday they had been forced at gunpoint to ferry refugees fleeing the ethnic war in Sri Lanka to India , as a protest strike by more than 30,000 fishermen entered its ninth day .


" There is little we can do when at mid-sea .


The LTTE ( Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam ) accosts us and , at the point of a gun , forces us to take refugees , " said senior fishermen leader P. Arulanandam .


Some 850 refugees have landed in recent weeks at the port of Rameswaram in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu , home to 50 million Tamil-speaking people , port officials say .


Rameswaram is 15 km ( 10 miles ) off the coast of Sri Lanka .


State chief minister M. Karunanidhi has publicly welcomed the refugees , who are fleeing the 13-year war between Tamil separatists and government troops that Colombo says has cost 50,000 lives .


But the influx has triggered fears of a repeat of the 1980s when some 200,000 refugees landed in Tamil Nadu .


Intelligence officals said more than 5,000 Tamils were waiting on the western coast of Sri Lanka to cross into India .


The Indian government has warned its fishermen that their boats would be impounded if they were caught ferrying refugees .


The fishermen went on strike last week to protest the government 's cancellation of three trawlers ' fishing licenses after the boats were caught carrying Tamil refugees .


All Fishermen 's Association secretary N.J. Bose said the strike would continue indefinitely and the fishermen would block road and rail traffic if their demands were not met .


" Until the government releases our boats from naval custody and Sri Lankan naval custody , and gives us assurance ( it will not revoke licences of boats ferrying refugees ) , we will not call off our strike , " Bose said .


LTTE spokesmen could not immediately be reached for comment , but Sri Lankan fishermen denied that Indians were being coerced into carrying refugees across the Palk Strait .


" Indian fishermen come right up to Pesalai to fish , and when refugees request them to ferry them across , they readily oblige .


Only some take money , " Sri Lankan boatman Chinnathambi said .


Arulanandam denied the fishermen charged the refugees for passage to India and said it was unfair to penalise them for the refugees ' arrival .


" We have not gone to sea since August 19 , but refugees are arriving daily nevertheless .


How could we alone be held responsible for the influx ? "


An Indian Fisheries Department official said the government planned to urge fishermen not to cross the international boundary between India and Sri Lanka , but admitted this would be hard to enforce because of Sri Lanka 's pomfret-rich waters .


Indian cotton trade shut for local festival .


India 's cotton trade was shut on Wednesday for a local religious festival , dealers said .


On Tuesday , cotton prices fell on profit-taking prompted by increased offerings from state agencies .


" Export deals remained thin and hardly a few thousand bales were traded at the rate of 57.50 / 60 cents per pound , " one broker said .


VW sees group net profit doubling in Q3 .


German carmaker Volkswagen AG said on Wednesday that it expected group net profit to double in the third quarter .


" We have been seeking to double our profits ( during the period ) and we are confident of doing so , " VW chief financial officer Bruno Adelt told a briefing as part of the formal introduction of the new VW Passat sedan .


Adelt did not give a concrete forecast .


VW had a 1995 third quarter group net profit of 72 million marks .


The group reported a 1996 first-half group net profit of 282 million marks .


-- John Gilardi , Frankfurt Newsroom , +49 69 756525


MILTIADIS EVERT HEADS TO ALEXANDROUPOLIS THIS WEEKEND .


Conservative New Democracy ( ND ) party leader Miltiadis Evert will be hitting the campaign trail and head to Alexandroupolis this weekend to speak to the city 's businessmen on Sunday morning , ND said .


Evert will depart for Alexandroupolis on Saturday afternoon .


Prime Minister Costas Simitis criticized Evert today for unleashing a seven-point economic package that offers tax relief to merchants and other professionals , higher pensions to farmers and support for small business .


The finance ministry estimated the cost of ND 's economic measures to over 600 billion drachmas but ND officials put the figure much lower to about 300 billion drachmas .


Simitis blamed ND for the low absorption rate of EU funds and said the socialists will increase farmers ' pensions , combat tax evasion and accelerate GDP growth rates to 4.0 percent in a few years .


Faster economic growth is a major component of ND 's economic programme and Evert has repeatedly blamed the socialists for the slow economic growth .


-- Dimitris Kontogiannis , Athens Newsroom +301 3311812-4


Dow pushes London stocks to new record .


A firm start on Wall Street helped push leading London shares to a new record high on Wednesday and German stocks closed floor trading up but the Paris bourse slipped sharply , hit by a weakening franc and fears of industrial unrest .


On the foreign exchange markets , a survey indicating weaker than expected Japanese business sentiment boosted the dollar in early trading but it failed to build on its gains against the yen and slipped lower against the mark in quiet afternoon trade .


London shares , boosted by Wall Street , added to early gains with the blue chip FTSE 100 index hitting a new peak of 3921.8 before dropping back slightly .


One focus was British Airways , which rebounded after fears faded that the cancellation of " open skies " talks between the U.S. Transportation Department and the British government may jeopardise its tie-up with American Airlines .


The conclusion of an open skies agreement had been made a prerequisite of the proposed link-up by the U.S .


Better-than-expected British trade figures had little impact on equities .


The non-EU July trade deficit totalled 506 million sterling ( $ 788 million ) while June 's world deficit was 1.12 billion pounds .


Forecasts were for deficits of 900 million sterling and 1.4 billion sterling .


German shares shed some gains on profit-taking but nonetheless ended the floor session higher buoyed by demand for chemical stocks and a stable dollar .


The 30-share DAX index closed at 2,563.16 points , up 4.32 .


However , French stocks extended opening losses to more than one percent in morning trading , falling through the 2000 point resistance level on the main CAC-40 index .


Dealers blamed a weakening franc and worries about the 1997 budget and possible autumn strikes


Louis Viannet , leader of France 's Communist-led CGT union , criticised government plans for spending cuts in the 1997 budget on Wednesday and warned of labour unrest as France gets back to work after the holidays .


Later in the day , helped by the firmer Wall Street opening , Paris climbed back to the 2000 level but still remained well into negative territory .


In foreign exchange the dollar was trading at around 108.40 yen in the European afternoon , up from its European close on Tuesday of 107.55 but off the day 's highs .


It had been boosted overnight by the Bank of Japan 's quarterly corporate survey , or " tankan " , of major manufacturers -- an important gauge of business sentiment .


The unexpectedly weak figures convinced markets that Japanese interest rates would stay at rock-bottom levels -- weakening the yen .


The Japanese discount rate is currently at a record low of 0.5 percent .


The BOJ sought to put the best face on the data which defied economists ' predictions of improving sentiment and was the first decline in business sentiment in a year .


A BOJ spokesman said " the doors to the recovery have not been shut ...


These remarks gave the yen some backbone and the dollar failed to progress further .


" The dollar 's gains were less than spectacular , suggesting that while it 's likely to benefit from revised Japanese rate expectations , a breakout from the established trading range does n't appear likely , " said currency economist Klaus Baader .


Dealers said shares were also affected by a slippage in bond prices due to lower than expected June industrial production , showing the economy was still faltering .


The dollar was at 108.40 yen and 1.4765 marks compared with Tuesday 's European close of 107.78 yen and 1.4779 marks


The Financial Times-Stock Exchange index of 100 leading British shares had risen 15 points to 3,920.7 .


In Paris , the CAC-40 share index dropped 15.09 to 2,002.9 .


The 30-share DAX index in Frankfurt closed up 4.32 at 2,563.16 .


Gold fixed at $ 388.50 versus Tuesday 's London close of $ 388.55 .


AEI 's Spanish operation wins ISO 9002 .


Air Express International said in a statement that Spain has become the twenty-second country in its network to achieve ISO 9002 quality accreditation .


It added Bureau Veritas has accredited AEI Iberfreight 's offices at Alicante , Barcelona , Bilbao , Madrid , Seville and Valencia as meeting the necessary standards .


Arafat says Israel declares war on Palestinians .


Palestinian President Yasser Arafat said on Wednesday that Israel had declared war on the Palestinians and called for the first general strike in the West Bank and Gaza in two years .


" What happened concerning continuous violations and crimes from this new Israeli leadership means they are declaring a state of war against the Palestinian people , " Arafat told the Palestinian legislature .


Accusing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of stupidity , Arafat launched his strongest attack on the right-wing government since its election in May .


The tirade was sparked by Israel 's announcement on Tuesday of plans to expand the Jewish settlement of Kiryat Sefer and its demolishing of a community centre in Arab East Jerusalem .


" Israel has started the war on Jerusalem .


They are idiots to have started the Jerusalem battle , " Arafat said in Arabic . "


There will be no Palestinian state without Jerusalem .


Netanyahu should know he is stupid to have started this battle . "


Arafat called for a general strike " for Jerusalem " on Thursday in all of the West Bank and Gaza Strip .


There has not been a joint shutdown there since May 1994 when Israeli troops began withdrawing under an interim self-rule agreement signed in 1993 .


The strike will have little effect on the Israeli economy while hurting Palestinian merchants in East Jerusalem and Bethlehem who cater to the tourist trade .


Some 25,000 Palestinian labourers are likely to stay away from their jobs , mainly in construction , in Israel .


But Palestinians , once the backbone of the building industry , have been largely replaced by labourers from Romania and China .


" On Friday , all Moslems , including Palestinians in Israel ...


will go to ( Jerusalem 's ) Al-Aqsa mosque and pray .


Jews and Christians who do not pray should accompany them and stand behind them , " Arafat said .


Officials in Netanyahu 's office were not immediately available for comment on Arafat 's remarks .


Israeli travel restrictions , imposed after bombings by Moslem militants in February and March , ban most of the two million Arabs in the West Bank and Gaza from entering Jerusalem .


Netanyahu , who opposes trading occupied land for peace , made Jerusalem a central issue in his election campaign , accusing Labour Prime Minister Shimon Peres of planning to hand control of the Arab eastern part of the city to the Palestinians .


Israel captured East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war and claims both halves of the city as its capital .


The PLO wants East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state .


In his speech to the crowded legislature , Arafat signalled he was not abandoning diplomacy although " alarm bells are ringing " .


He unexpectedly broke off his address to take a telephone call from U.S. Middle East envoy Dennis Ross , who held talks in Paris on Tuesday with Israeli and Egyptian officials .


When Arafat returned to the podium , he said senior PLO negotiator Mahmoud Abbas , better known as Abu Mazen , and Netanyahu aide Dore Gold could meet on Thursday .


He quoted Ross as telling him : " The important thing is the Israelis are prepared to move . "


Arafat said he replied : " is this like their previous promises ? "


" No , they have good intentions , " Arafat quoted Ross as saying .


Palestinians have been pressing Israel to carry out a long-delayed partial troop pullout from the flashpoint West Bank city of Hebron agreed by the previous Labour government .


The Israeli government is studying redeployment plans submitted by Defence Minister Yitzhak Mordechai which are likely to demand a wider than agreed army presence in Hebron .


Turkey 's Ciller to hold talks in Jordan .


Turkish Foreign Minister Tansu Ciller will visit Jordan on September 3 on her first trip abroad since she took office in June , Foreign Ministry spokesman Omer Akbel said on Wednesday .


" The two-day visit will take place at the invitation of Jordanian Prime Minister Abdul-Karim al-Kabariti , " he told reporters .


He said Turkey considered Jordan a suitable country with which to cooperate on Middle East matters .


Bilateral relations and the Middle East peace process would be on the table during the visit , Akbel said .


Turkish Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan visited mainly Moslem countries , including Iran , during a 10-day tour earlier in August .


Italian prime minister to visit Turkey .


Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi will pay a one-day working visit to Turkey on September 3 , the Turkish Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday .


" Both countries ' governments were formed recently .


This visit will create a direct contact opportunity for the two parties to express their views , " spokesman Omer Akbel told a news briefing .


The Italian prime minister , in office since May 18 , will be the first Western leader to meet Islamist Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan since he came to power on June 28 .


Prodi will also meet President Suleyman Demirel and Foreign Minister Tansu Ciller , Akbel said .


Turkey says 25 Kurd rebels killed in clashes .


Turkish troops killed 25 Kurdish rebels in recent clashes in the east of the country , security officials said on Wednesday .


The emergency rule governor 's office said in a statement that 10 rebels from the Kurdistan Workers Party ( PKK ) were killed in fighting in Tunceli province .


Soldiers killed nine more PKK guerrillas in Sirnak province and six in Hakkari .


The statement did not report any military casualties and did not say exactly when the clashes took place .


Over 20,000 people have been killed in the PKK 's fight for independence or autonomy in southeastern Turkey .


Israel 's Levy to meet Mubarak in Egypt .


Israeli Foreign Minister David Levy will visit Egypt this Sunday for talks with President Hosni Mubarak , the Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday .


The trip will be Levy 's first to an Arab state as a minister in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu 's government .


FSA qualifies five muni bond issues for insurance .


Financial Security Assurance said Wednesday it qualified for bond insurance the following five municipal issues scheduled for competitive sale today :


-- St Ansgar Community School District , Iowa , $ 3.334 million general obligation school bonds .


-- Avalon Borough , N.J. , $ 11.4 million GOs .


-- Seaford Union Free School District , N.Y. , $ 5 million school bonds .


-- Akron , Ohio , $ 6.31 million improvement bonds .


taxable health deal rated Aa2 / VMIG-1 - Moody 's .


Lamm will not endorse Perot for Reform ticket-CNN .


Richard Lamm has decided not to endorse Ross Perot as the presidential candidate of the Reform Party , CNN reported late Tuesday .


CNN quoted aides and family members as saying Lamm , who competed with Perot to head the ticket for Perot 's party , had told them he would definitely not endorse Perot , but they did not know whether he would endorse another candidate .


An announcement was planned in Chicago Wednesday .


Lamm , 60 , is a three-term Colorado governor who left office in 1987 and vied for the Reform Party nomination after becoming disillusioned with both the Democratic and Republican parties .


Lamm is a friend of President Clinton and supported him in the 1992 election .


Perot won his party 's official nomination as its presidential candidate in a secret ballot earlier this month .


RESEARCH ALERT - Career Horizons said cut .


-- Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette cut its rating on Career Horizons Inc to market perform from outperform , according to market sources .


-- Further details were not immediately available .


US investors mull appeal of Lloyd 's decision .


U.S. investors in troubled Lloyd 's of London were considering late on Tuesday whether to appeal a U.S. court decision in favour of Lloyd 's and pledged to continue pursuing other legal actions .


A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday gave Lloyd 's a reprieve , throwing out an injunction that the insurance giant said could have led to its collapse .


A lower court issued the injunction on Friday and ordered Lloyd 's to give investors , known as Names , more information before requiring them to decide whether to accept a settlement offer as part of a reorganisation plan .


" My prediction is that the Names will appeal , " said Kenneth Chiate , a U.S. Name and a chief negotiator for the American Names Association .


" At this point , it is a sufficiently important decision that I 'm confident that they will appeal , " he said . "


But to say that they definitely will would be premature until we determine what the exact basis for the court 's ruling is . "


Under the reorganisation plan , Lloyd 's plans to reinsure its massive liabilities into a new company called Equitas .


The arrangement calls for investors to make additional payments to fund Equitas but also provides them with 3.2 billion stg in compensation to help reduce their prior outstanding liabilities .


The Names had been scheduled to decide whether to accept or reject the offer by 1100 GMT Wednesday , but Lloyd 's chairman David Rowland said on Tuesday the offer would be extended .


At least eight U.S. states have still some form of litigation pending , said John Head , spokesman for the Association of Lloyd 's State Chairmen , a group representing U.S. Names .


" It goes without saying that we 're rather disappointed , " Head said of the decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit , sitting in Baltimore .


But , he said , " we still have hope that somebody is going to see our point of view in this . "


The Colorado attorney general told Lloyd 's last week it was considering a new legal action against the British insurance market , based on allegations of consumer fraud .


" We have notified them of our concerns and asked them to give us a response , " said Colorado attorney general Gale Norton .


Norton said she was concerned that the Lloyd 's agreement immunizes it from future litigation regarding Equitas and requires that all legal actions be heard outside of Colorado .


In addition , she said she was concerned the plan may not offer investors enough protection from additional , future liabilities .


Meanwhile , an appeal of a lawsuit filed by some 600 Names in California is still pending before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit , Chiate of the American Names Association said .


That lawsuit , which seeks rescision and restitution , was dismissed in a U.S. district court .


That case " is what I call the most significant alternate remedy for us , " Chiate said .


The individual Names , however , now must decide whether to accept Lloyd 's settlement offer or reject the offer and pursue litigation .


Chiate said he has advised Names that " they must make , individually , a risk benefit analysis . "


Rejection involved forfeiting the compensation offer and risking the possibility of owing Lloyd 's two to three times more than Lloyd 's is now willing to accept , he said .


But , in rejecting the offer , the Names would retain their rights to pursue litigation , he said .


German police made Nazi gestures , officials say .


German riot police made Nazi gestures at a private function earlier this month and may face dismissal for their actions , the Bavarian Interior Ministry said on Wednesday .


The ministry declined to detail gestures the Nuremberg-based policemen had made at the August 13 function but added seven had been suspended from duty pending an internal inquiry .


A spokesman for public prosecutors in the southern city , where dictator Adolf Hitler held some of his most infamous Nazi party rallies in the 1930s , said there were no plans to prosecute the officers as the gestures had not been made in public .


Gun-wielding motorist snapped by cool passenger .


A motorist threatened a fellow driver with a starting pistol as he overtook him illegally in the inside lane on a motorway near Berlin and was photographed in the act by the driver 's wife , prosecutors said on Wednesday .


Prosecutors in the city of Potsdam said the 32-year-old man drew alongside the other car at about 110 kph ( 70 mph ) and aimed his pistol at the driver .


But the driver 's wife kept her nerve , got out her camera and photographed him .


The man has been charged with dangerous driving , coercion and threatening behaviour .


German prosecutors file sex tourism charges .


Berlin prosecutors said on Wednesday they had filed charges against two German men for sexually abusing children in Thailand and distributing pornographic films and pictures of their degrading acts .


The case is one of only a handful in which authorities have managed to track down suspects under a law which lets them pursue Germans who commit sex offences abroad .


The pair , identified only as 43-year-old clerk Dieter U and businessman Thomas S , 33 , are alleged to have carried out acts of sexual indecency with children as young as 10 years old between 1994 and 1995 .


Their videos included pictures of one of the accused tying up a Thai boy and performing acts of sadistic torture on him , prosecutors said in a statement .


In another scene , a young girl performed oral sex with an unidentified adult man .


The new law was introduced with much fanfare in 1993 .


But prosecutors face huge difficulties in gathering evidence and bringing witnesses to testify in a German court , and only one person has so far been convicted under the law .


Investigators are probing several other cases .


The Berlin prosecutors said they had been alerted to the two men by customs officials who intercepted packages containing pornographic photographs and order forms .


France 's Juppe on official visit to Greece Sep 15 .


French Premier Alain Juppe will pay an official visit to Greece on September 15 to celebrate 150 years of the French Archaeological Society , government spokesman Dimitris Reppas said on Wednesday .


Juppe will meet Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis and Foreign Minister Theodoros Pangalos , Reppas told reporters .


" The French premier 's visit was planned to coincide with the Archaeological Society 's celebrations .


The Greek government was asked for an official meeting with the prime minister and the foreign minister and it said yes , " Reppas said .


( millions of guilders unless otherwise stated )


- New orders received ( billions ) 1.00 vs 1.09


NOTE - Order book figures refer to value of orders on books at end of period .


Stephanie of Monaco 's husband snapped cavorting .


Two Italian magazines published pictures on Wednesday of Daniel Ducruet , Princess Stephanie of Monaco 's husband and former bodyguard , cavorting naked with another woman by a poolside in France .


The magazines , Eva Tremila and its sister publication Gente , printed up to 26 pages of photos of the woman undressing Ducruet , the pair embracing on a sunbed and finally both naked .


Eva Tremila said other even more explicit photos were taken but it did not print them .


The magazines named the woman as Fili Houteman , a 26-year-old French singer and dancer in a Belgian cabaret club .


The photographs , an Italian exclusive , raised eyebrows in the tiny principality , where Stephanie 's father Prince Rainier , had long disapproved of his daughter 's choice of husband .


Stephanie had two children with Ducruet before their marriage in July last year .


Stephanie , Caroline and Albert are the children of Rainier and former Hollywood screen goddess Grace Kelly , who was killed in a car crash in 1982 .


" We have seen the photos but for the moment the palace has no comment , " a spokeswoman for Prince Rainier told Reuters .


The magazines said the photographs were taken in Cap de Villefranche , some 15 km ( nine miles ) from Monte Carlo .


Gente said Ducruet , a keen racing driver , met Houteman during a race in Belgium and photographers had been on their trail ever since .


The magazine said video cameras had also been used to film the couple and that a sound-track existed .


Highlights of Wednesday 's Commission briefing .


Following are highlights of the midday briefing by the European Commission on Wednesday :


In response to a question , Commission spokesman Joao Vale de Almeida said there had been no developments regarding the Commission 's position concerning the dispute with Germany and Saxony over state aid to Volkswagen .


He said there was some possibility of further talks with Germany before the next Commission meeting of September 4 .


The Commission released the following documents :


- IP / 96 / 804 : Commission approves acquisition of Pao de Acucar by Auchan .


- IP / 96 / 805 : Commission finds acquisition of CAMAT by AGF-IART does not fall under the merger regulation .


- IP / 96 / 806 : Commission clears acquisition of Austrian food retail chain Billa by German group Rewe-Handelsgruppe .


- SPEECH / 96 / 202 : Speech by European Commissioner Anita Gradin at the World Congress against Sexual Exploitation of Children in Stockholm .


- Eurostat news release 51/96 : March-May 1996 EU industrial production figures .


Spanish tomato warriors paint the town red .


Revellers painted the town red on Wednesday as the 1996 edition of the world 's biggest tomato fight began in the eastern Spanish village of Bunol .


Thousands of people pelted each other with armfuls of ripe tomatoes as streets , walls and windows were coated in a blood-red wash .


A single firework after midday signalled the start of the fruit-throwing frenzy , during which participants hurl some 100 tonnes of tomatoes trucked in for the occasion .


Local historians say the tradition began in 1945 when disgruntled locals began spontaneously to bombard the priest and mayor at the annual fiesta in Bunol ( pronounced Boo-nee-OL ) .


The festival 's fame has grown and now attracts between 15,000 and 20,000 people , many of them foreigners .


Leading stories in the Greek financial press :


-- Pre-election debate heats up on economic issues as conservative New Democracy party promises seven measures includind tax relief for farmers and socialist Pasok defends progress on economic convergence with the EU


-- Finance ministry scrambles to find temporary solution to regulation which slaps a 15 percent tax rate on gains from trading of bonds and coupons by mutual funds


-- Finance ministry will cut 12-month T-bill rate by 10 basis points to 12.70 percent in the upcoming end August issue


-- Inflows of more than $ 500 million are seen in the interbank market and the bourse in the last three days reflecting confidence in the post-election economic policy


-- Athens Metro subway project hits snags which could delay delivery to the year 2000 and overshoot the original budgeted cost of 520 billion drachmas


-- State National Bank of Greece will start real auction programme September 9 to lighten up on its real estate holdings


-- New Democracy leader Miltiadis Evert vows support mesures for farmers and small business as he kicks off the conservative party 's campaign


-- National Economy Minister Yannos Papandoniou defends " hard drachma " foreign exchange policy , says it wo n't change


-- Message of unity from the conservative New Democracy party as former prime minister Constantine Mitsotakis and Miltiadis Evert shake hands


-- Government defends " hard drachma " policy , says it will continue unchanged after the elections


-- Conservative opposition New Democracy promises series of measures on the economy 30 days after the elections aiming at 4.0 percent GDP growth rate annually -- George Georgiopoulos , Athens Newsroom +301 3311812-4


HOEK LOOS H1 NET PROFIT 28.9 MLN GUILDERS .


( in millions of guilders unless otherwise stated )


Note - Industrial gases maker Hoek Loos NV .


Stagecoach sees Swebus deal agreed next week .


British bus and passenger rail operator Stagecoach Holdings Plc said on Wednesday that its negotiations to acquire Swedish long distance bus operator Swebus AB were set to lead to a signed agreement next week .


Four weeks ago Stagecoach said it had agreed the deal in principle , and it expected to pay 110 million stg-plus for the firm , with Swebus ' current owner , the state railway company .


" The directors report that negotiations with the vendors of Swebus AB are proceeding and they expect an agreement ( conditional on shareholder approval ) will be signed next week , " Stagecoach said in a statement .


NZ bills gain ground after see-saw session .


The New Zealand money market gained slightly at Wednesday 's close after what dealers described as a see-saw trading session .


Ninety-day bank bill rates shed five points to 9.93 percent and September bank bill futures rose four to 90.18 .


" Our bonds were better bid initially but they sold off on a lack of demand , and the short end went with it too on a lower currency .


" There were big buyers at the base of where the market sold to , and when the currency got bought back on talk of a samurai the market got bought back again , " a dealer said .


Volumes were reasonable in the money market but thin in bonds .


Dealers said the market seemed to be trading a range and would wait for more political polls to provide direction .


They were confident of further eurokiwi issuance but said the timing was less of a certainty .


RTRS - Guinness Peat expects strong full yr .


British-based investment company Guinness Peat Group Plc ( GPG ) said on Wednesday it expected a strong full year result .


" We think we 're in a position to produce a strong result , however a lot of our profitability must inevitably depend on a number of ( company ) results , " said GPG director Garry Weiss .


GPG earlier said its net profit for the six months to June 30 rose to 9.77 million pounds from 6.93 million in the previous first half .


The company did not declare an interim dividend as in the previous year .


Weiss said the Australian share market had been somewhat negative for much of 1996 and this had some effect on the company 's first half results .


" However , it certainly is a very pleasing result for the first six months , " he said .


Weiss said most of the company 's half year earning stemmed from the sale of its 50 percent stake in Physicians Insurance Co of Ohio .


He said the company decided to sell its U.S. investment in order to consolidate investments closer to its administrative base .


GPG said its stakes in Tyndall Australia Ltd and Mid-East Minerals Ltd both contributed strongly to GPG 's first half earnings .


RTRS - Newcrest Q4 net profit A$ 4.3 mln .


Gold miner Newcrest Mining Ltd said on Wednesday it posted a A$ 4.3 million profit after tax in the final quarter of the year to June 30 , 1996 .


Earlier , Newcrest reported a drop in net profit after abnormals to A$ 20.81 million for the year from A$ 42.4 million the previous year .


Newcrest said earnings from the Telfer and Boddington mines were lower than the previous year due to lower head grades at the mines , forcing gold production lower .


Production costs also rose eight percent during the year to A$ 406 per ounce .


RTRS - Queensland gunman evades police in bush hunt .


Australian police on Wednesday continued to hunt a gunman in dense bushland after he killed his wife and wounded three other people , warning the man is extremely dangerous and may take a hostage to escape .


The shooting occured around 6.30 a.m. ( 2030 GMT ) on Tuesday at Glenwood , south of Maryborough , about 150 km ( 93 miles ) north of Brisbane on the Queensland state coast .


Police have declared an " emergent situation " in the area , giving them powers to raid houses , search cars , close schools , quarantine the area and evacuate people .


" It is one step short of an emergency situation , " a police spokesman said via telephone from a command post in the bush .


" We have not had any sightings , but we suspect he is armed , possibly with a .22 rifle and / or a self-loading shotgun .


He is considered extremely dangerous , " he said .


" It 's a possibility , not a probability , he may take a hostage , but we have measures in place if that is the case . "


William Fox broke into his wife 's home on Tuesday morning , shooting her dead and wounding his 16-year-old son , his son 's girlfriend and a neighbour , police said .


All three wounded are in a satisfactory condition in hospital .


Fox initially fled from the shooting in a car , but then abandoned the car and entered dense bushland .


Fox is a skilled bushman who knows the area very well , police said .


About 60 police , helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft have maintained an overnight cordon around 15 sq km ( six sq miles ) of bush near Glenwood .


The area is littered with caves and police believed Fox has a hideout which has enabled him to evade capture .


Australia 's six states and two territories are involved in heated debate over the introduction of tough new firearm laws , including the banning rapid fire weapons , after a shooting massacre in the island state of Tasmania .


On April 28 , a lone gunman went on a shooting rampage at the site of the historic Port Arthur penal settlement , killing 35 people .


Shanghai Ek Chor opens new motorcyle plant .


Shanghai-Ek Chor Motorcycle Co , a Sino-Thai joint venture , opened a new plant to produce gasoline engines in the Pudong New Area of Shanghai , the Xinhua news agency reported on Wednesday .


The plant , requiring an investment of three billion baht , has a floor space of 50,000 square metres and is designed to produce 600,000 gasoline engines a year , to be sold in China , South America , the Middle East and Africa , it said .


Capacity is expected to reach one million engines by the year 2000 , it said .


Shanghai-Ek Chor is jointly owned by the Shanghai Automobile Corporation and Ek Chor China Motorcycle .


It started operations in January 1985 and has registered capital of 1.56 billion baht , it said but gave no further details .


The joint venture has two motorcycle plants making Xingfu motorcycles and aims to be China 's biggest producer by the year 2000 , with output of two million units .


Khmer Rouge 's Ieng Sary confirms break with Pol Pot .


Dissident Khmer Rouge leader Ieng Sary confirmed on Wednesday that he had broken with Pol Pot and other hardliners of the guerrilla group and had formed a rival movement .


Ieng Sary said in a written statement , the first since his split with Pol Pot earlier this month , that the new movement to be called the Democratic National United Movement ( DNUM ) would seek an end to civil war and work towards reconciliation with the Cambodian government .


" I would like to inform you about my decision to break away from Pol Pot , Ta Mok , Son Sen 's dictatorial group , " he said in a copy of the statement obtained by Reuters .


" We believe that our country will be reduced to nothing if the Khmer people continue to fight against each other indefinitely ....


For this reason we decided to break away from that dictatorial group and found a movement named ' Democratic National United Movement ' , " he said .


Ieng Sary was sentenced to death in absentia for his role in the mass genocide in Cambodia during the Khmer Rouge rule of terror between 1975-1979 when over a million people were executed or died of starvation , disease or overwork in mass labour camps .


The French-educated , former brother-in-law of Pol Pot was foreign minister in the Khmer Rouge government that ruled Cambodia and was seen as the group 's second in command .


Two people were killed and six were injured after a helicopter crashed in bad weather in northern Cambodia , a government minister said on Wednesday .


The 15 survivors who had been on board the Russian-made MI-17 helicopter were taken to hospital from the remote jungle crash site about 150 km ( 90 miles ) north of Phnom Penh , Information Minister Ieng Mouly said .


The cause of the crash of the helicopter , which went down on Sunday while on a routine resupply flight between Phnom Penh and Stung Treng , was not known .


Ieng Mouly said the aircraft went down during a rain storm .


MOF 's Kubo says believes BOJ rate policy unchanged .


Japan 's Finance Minister Wataru Kubo told a news conference on Wednesday that he believes that the Bank of Japan 's ( BOJ ) interest rate policy which is geared towards ensuring economic growth has not changed after the release of the central bank 's " tankan " survey .


The BOJ released the August tankan , its quarterly short-term corporate survey , in the morning and it showed business outlook had worsened .


However , Kubo said it did not necessarily show a substantial worsening of the economy .


" The question is what the BOJ is going to do with its interest rate policy .


The BOJ governor has made it clear that the BOJ 's policy is aimed at ensuring basis for economic recovery .


I believe this policy has not changed , " he said .


Asked if a supplementary budget for 1996/97 was needed to support the economy , Kubo said the tankan results would not lead to any immediate decision on the need for an extra budget .


" I do n't think we should immediately draw a conclusion that the economic recovery has come to a halt or that signs of a economic contraction have emerged , " Kubo said . "


The economy is not recovering smoothly or at a fast pace . "


Kubo said he would make a decision on the need for a supplementary budget after an announcement in mid-September of Japan 's gross domestic product for the April-June quarter .


" I would like to see how the economy moved in the first half of 1996 , " he said .


China says militant Japan must face war past .


China on Wednesday called on Japan to acknowledge its wartime past and put a stop to a tide of resurgent militarism to prevent similar atrocities in future .


" Some Japanese are still unrepentant about the atrocities committed by the Japanese militarists during the war , " said a commentary in the official China Daily .


" If they are still undecided whether the war Japan launched was aggressive in nature , it will be difficult to tell whether they will do the same again , " the newspaper said .


China raised indignant protests after several Japanese cabinet ministers visited a shrine dedicated to their country 's war dead on August 15 , the 51st anniversary of Japan 's World War Two surrender .


" Numerous Japanese politicians have tried to whitewash their country 's war atrocities in recent years , " the commentary said .


China estimates 35 million Chinese were killed or wounded by invading Japanese troops from 1931 to 1945 .


" The Japanese have never genuinely apologised for their wartime crimes , " the commentary said .


Japanese Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto marked the August 15 anniversary by expressing " remorse " for foreign victims of Japan 's World War Two atrocities .


Japan coalition party leader plans to resign .


The leader of a junior partner in Japan 's three-party ruling coalition plans to resign to quell a political rebellion , party officials said on Wednesday .


The officials said New Party Sakigake President Masayoshi Takemura , finance minister until the beginning of this year , promised his resignation in a meeting with the politician who set off the rebellion in the smallest coalition member .


They said the date of Takemura 's resignation would be determined by party officials .


The Sakigake row has caused jitters in its coalition partners , Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto 's Liberal Democratic Party ( LDP ) , the biggest grouping , and the Social Democratic Party .


But analysts said the row was not expected to immediately destabilise the government as even if Sakigake splits apart it has so few seats a loss of support would not lead to a general election .


The dispute pits Takemura , who founded Sakigake in 1993 as a reform-oriented LDP splinter group , against party official Yukio Hatoyama , who says he will leave Sakigake to form a reformist political group next month .


Hatoyama , the 49-year-old grandson of a 1950s prime minister , on Tuesday quit as Sakigake secretary general and has publicly snubbed the 62-year-old Takemura , pointedly ruling his mentor out as a possible member of the new political force .


Marathon talks between the two former allies on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning failed to resolve the dispute over the role of Takemura , seen by Hatoyama backers as tainted by his senior role in the LDP-dominated coalition .


The presence of Takemura , whose role as finance minister in passing an unpopular plan to use taxpayer funds to wind up failed housing loan firms ruined his reputation as a reformer , has stalled Hatoyama 's efforts to attract to his new group defectors from the opposition camp , analysts said .


Media reports say that at most 10 of 23 Sakigake members , joined by a handful of Social Democrats , will follow Hatoyama when he bolts -- far short of the 50 lawmakers needed to topple Hashimoto 's eight-month-old government .


Hashimoto -- who returns from a 10-day Latin American tour on Saturday -- must call polls by mid-1997 , and has repeatedly said he would not call an early general election .


But many analysts and politicians believe he may dissolve parliament soon after it reconvenes in early October .


Company name Liu Chong Hing Investment Ltd


NOTE - Liu Chong Hing engages in property development and investment , warehousing , banking and insurance services .


Fire bomb hurled at U.S. consulate in Indonesia .


A fire bomb was thrown over the fence into the grounds of the U.S. Consulate-General in Indonesia 's second largest city of Surabaya but no one was hurt , a mission official said on Wednesday .


Craig Stromme , U.S. embassy spokesman in Jakarta , 700 km ( 430 miles ) west of Surabaya , confirmed the Tuesday morning attack .


" Somebody threw a molotov cocktail over the fence and it went into the parking lot .


It did n't hit anybody or anything , " Stromme said .


He said there was no immediate explanation for the attack or any information on those responsible .


A Shanghai novelist was murdered at her home on Sunday , an official of the city 's Writers Association said on Wednesday .


The victim was Dai Houying , who wrote about China 's 1966-76 leftist Cultural Revolution and the lives of Chinese intellectuals , the official said .


The killing was under investigation , she said .


Born in 1937 in the central province of Anhui , Dai came to Shanghai as a student and remained in the city as a prolific author and teacher of Chinese .


She was divorced and lived alone , leaving one daughter who received university education in Hawaii and lives in Chicago , a friend said .


Dai 's most famous book , " Ren A Ren " ( People , People ) , was translated into German and English , he said .


Hwa Kay plunges on rights issue , earnings .


Shares of Hwa Kay Thai Holdings Ltd plunged to an all-time low after the company announced a rights issue plan and also reported a sharp fall in earnings , brokers said .


The stock fell HK$ 0.23 , or 30.26 percent , to an all-time low of HK$ 0.53 .


" Investors unloaded their shares due to the poor earnings outlook following a sharp profit decline .


The rights issue also prompted dilution fears , " said a dealing director at a local brokerage .


Japan July refined zinc imports off 47.5 pct yr / yr .


Japan 's refined zinc imports in July totalled 3,684 tonnes , off 47.5 percent from 7,011 tonnes in the same month a year earlier , according to Ministry of Finance data released on Wednesday .


Refined zinc imports in the first seven months of 1996 totalled 115,941 tonnes , up 38.4 percent from 83,801 tonnes in the year-ago period .


PRESS DIGEST - HK newspaper editorials - Aug 28 .


With 307 days to go before the British colony reverts to China , the Hong Kong media focused mainly on domestic issues concerning alleged pressure on a judge , cross straights relations and the democratic lobby 's relationship with Beijing .


The Beijing-funded WEN WEI PO said Taiwan 's government could not hope to stem the island 's economic and trade exchanges with China .


The paper said that using administrative power to limit economic activities across the Taiwan strait would not work .


MING PAO DAILY NEWS said it hoped Chinese officials would soon open dialogue with Hong Kong 's Democratic Party and the newly-established democracy lobby , Frontier , in order to ease anxieties in the lead-up to the handover .


The English language SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST said the judiciary needed to take swift and decisive action in investigating the allegations that a judge had been subjected to pressure in a New Zealand immigration case involving allegations of fraud .


The independence of the judiciary and the rule of law were of paramount importance to Hong Kong 's survival as a business centre .


The Chinese language daily HONG KONG ECONOMIC TIMES said the Legal Department had been indecisive in its handling of the judge 's case .


Such hesitancy on the part of the government had damaged public confidence in the rule of law , the paper said .


Palestinian Authority frees rights activist .


A human rights activist said on Wednesday he had been released after more than two weeks in detention that followed his call for an inquiry into the death of a Gaza man interrogated by Palestinian police .


Mohammad Dahman , director of the Gaza-based Addameer Prisoners Support Association , said he was freed on Tuesday without being charged .


Palestinian Attorney-General Khaled al-Qidra was not immediately available to comment .


Qidra had said Dahman was arrested on suspicion of making a false statement .


The activist was detained by Palestinian intelligence service agents on August 12 after publishing a statement demanding an investigation into the death of a Gaza man who had been questioned by Palestinian authorities .


The Palestinian Authority said the dead man , Nahed Dahlan , had committed suicide .


Human rights groups had protested about Dahman 's arrest in letters to Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and to Qidra .


Headlines from major national newspapers .


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


- Work groups and weekend arrest to quell juvenile violence in Basque Country


- Aleix Vidal-Quadras - Catalan nationalists are demanding my defenestration


- Catalan nationalists say the 1997 budget will make Spaniards sweat


- Worldwide alarm over child prostitution


- Banco Santander starts conquest of the east .


- Government will finish pension reform before the year 2000


- Caja de Madrid stagnates during struggle for presidency


Iran asks Bonn to extradite ex-president Banisadr .


Iran has asked Germany to extradite its former president Abolhassan Banisadr for alleged hijacking , an Iranian embassy spokesman said on Wednesday .


Banisadr angered Tehran last week by accusing top Iranian leaders of ordering the assassination of Iranian Kurdish leaders in a Berlin restaurant in 1992 .


He made the allegations at the trial of an Iranian and four Lebanese accused of carrying out the attack .


An Iranian embassy spokesman said in response to an inquiry that Iran had formally requested Banisadr 's extradition for hijacking the military aircraft which he commandeered to flee Iran in July 1981 .


" We submitted the request three or four days ago , " he said .


German authorities could not immediately be reached for comment .


Banisadr lives under round-the-clock security in France , fearing Tehran could make an attempt on his life .


He is due back in Berlin on September 5 to continue his testimony , which has backed up German prosecutors ' allegations that Tehran ordered the attack on the exiled leaders .


Three dissidents and their translator were killed in the gangland-style machinegun attack .


Iran has warned Germany that bilateral relations could suffer if it pays heed to the testimony of Banisadr , an architect of Iran 's Islamic revolution who has been a sworn enemy of Tehran since he fell from favour after a year as president .


Top military officials from North Atlantic Treaty Organisation countries will tour Spain and Portugal next month for their annual inspection of alliance country installations and forces .


NATO said in a statement received on Wednesday that its military committee would visit the two countries between September 8 and 13 .


The committee consists of the chiefs of defence staff of each alliance country except Iceland , which has no armed forces .


NATO 's top military men -- General George Joulwan , Supreme Allied Commander Europe , and General John Sheehan , Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic -- will also attend .