EVENTS

HONG KONG LEGISLATORS DEBATE REFORMS Hong Kong Gov. Chris Patten's reform drive faced its first major vote yesterday, with hostile legislators trying to block a partial democracy bill and sabotage his most controversial proposals. Legislators debating the electoral reforms are divided between spurning greater democracy or angering China by passing the measures. The debate in the Legislative Council caps months of angry dispute between Britain and China on the pace of democratic reforms in Hong Kong. The reforms apply to the 1994-95 local and legislative elections, the last before the British colony reverts back to China in 1997. Beijing fiercely opposes the measures and has vowed to disband the legislature after 1997, if the bill is passed. Olympic results

US speedskater Bonnie Blair took the gold yesterday in the 1,000 meter race, earning her second gold of the Lillehamar Olympics and her fifth career medal. Ms. Blair's victory made her the most successful US Olympian in history with five gold medals. In men's skiing, two-time Olympic champion Alberto Tomba ran off the course in his 1994 Olympics debut yesterday. Germany's Markus Wasmeier, last week's super-G gold medalist, won by two-hundredths of a second. US Supreme Court

Justice Harry A. Blackmun announced Tuesday that he now considers all death-penalty laws unconstitutional. Justice Blackmun dissented from the court's denial of an appeal by Texas death-row inmate Bruce Callins.

In other actions released Tuesday, the court:

* Let people ``bumped'' from oversold airline flights sue to recover their financial losses.

* Set the stage for a big-stakes ruling by agreeing to clarify a ruling on a state's duty to refund income taxes later deemed unconstitutional.

* Agreed to decide whether authorities may bar the distribution of campaign literature that doesn't carry a sponsor's name and address.

* Turned down two appeals aimed at giving some Vietnam veterans a new chance to sue for exposure to the toxic herbicide Agent Orange.

* Left intact rulings that could force Figgie International Inc., an Ohio manufacturer accused of misleading marketing, to pay refunds to 293,824 consumers who bought its Vanguard heat detectors.

* Refused to order the FBI to release its files on the 1975 disappearance of former Teamsters union president Jimmy Hoffa. North Korean demands

North Korea set out tough conditions yesterday for allowing international inspection of its suspect nuclear sites, which included cancellation of US-South Korean war games. The nation firmly rejected any outside bid to look at two suspect sites in addition to seven declared nuclear facilities to which inspectors would have access. It also wants a US commitment to start a third round of high-level talks on diplomatic and economic issues and a resumption of contacts between the two Koreas.

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