News In Brief

Hillary Rodham Clinton visited Mongolia yesterday to support the country's fledgling democracy. The White House said she is the highest-ranking American to visit Mongolia since 1944. China criticized remarks by Mrs. Clinton directed at the country yesterday. Meanwhile, a dozen members of parliament from Europe staged a daring demonstration against nuclear testing on the steps of China's Great Hall of the People in Beijing yesterday, and delivered a protest letter to Chinese officials.

A Mexican government negotiator Wednesday said Chiapas rebels must lay down their weapons before discussion on political reform can take place. In Tepoztlan, south of Mexico City, rioting townsfolk released their hostages but are still angry over a proposal to turn land farmed by their ancestors into a golf course.

Floods crashed through several southern Philippine villages when a volcano's crater wall partly collapsed, killing 14 people and leaving about 500 missing, local officials said yesterday.

Tamil Tiger separatists who freed 121 of 144 passenger and crew taken from a Sri Lankan ferry demanded yesterday the release of two women ''Sea Tigers'' in return for the eight-man crew. The women were arrested after an attack on a navy command and supply vessel sunk in July.

Spanish military intelligence recommended kidnapping and murder as weapons in the fight against Basque rebels, publication yesterday of a reportedly 12-year-old document seems to show. Spain's ''dirty war'' resulted in 27 deaths between 1983 and 1987. Meanwhile, European Union foreign ministers will meet in Santander, in Spain's Basque country, this weekend to discuss European security.

A wedding for the foster son of Tamil Nadu chief minister Jayalalitha in Madras, India, Wednesday is creating a stir. The cost? About $25 million in a state where half the population lives below the poverty line. Indian Prime Minister Rao declined an invitation in protest.

The New Establishment 50

Vanity Fair magazine rated the world's top 50 leaders in the entertainment, information, and technology industries. Their criteria: How leaders and their companies excell in distribution, notable brand names, and personal connections.

1. Rupert Murdoch, CEO, News Corp.

2. Bill Gates, CEO, Microsoft

3. Michael Eisner, CEO, Disney

4. Sumner Redstone, chairman, Viacom

5. John Malone, CEO, Tele-Communications Inc.

6. Gerald Levin, CEO, Time Warner

7. Andrew Grove, CEO, Intel

8. Steven Spielberg, co-founder, Dreamworks SKG

9. David Geffen, co-founder, Dreamworks SKG

10. Robert Allen, CEO, AT&T

11. Edgar Bronfman Jr., CEO, Seagram; chairman, MCA

12. Louis Gerstner, CEO, IBM

13. Ted Turner, chairman, Turner Broadcasting

14. Herbert Allen, CEO, Allen & Co.

15. Michael Ovitz, president, Disney

16. Barry Diller, Silver King Communications

17. Ronald Perelman, chairman, MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings

18. James Clark, chairman Netscape Communications

19. Ray Smith, CEO, Bell Atlantic

20. Lawrence Ellison, CEO, Oracle Corp.

21. John Doerr, partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers

22. Bert Roberts, CEO, MCI

23. Paul Allen, chairman, the Paul Allen Group

24. Nathan Myhrvold, GroupVice President, Microsoft

25. Steve Case, CEO, America Online

26. Frank J. Biondi, CEO, Viacom

27. Craig McCaw, investor

28. Edward McCracken, CEO, Silicon Graphics

29. Warren Buffett, chairman, Berkshire Hathaway

30. Brian Roberts, president, Comcast Corp.

31. Robert Daly and Terry Semel, chairmen, Warner Bros.

32. Richard McCormick, CEO, US West

33. Michael Bloomberg, founder, Bloomberg L.P.

34. Jeffrey Katzenberg, co-founder, Dreamworks SKG

35. Ron Meyer, president, MCA

36. Michael Fuchs, chairman, HBO; CEO, the Warner Music Group

37. Michael Schulhof, CEO, Sony Corp. of America

38. Robert Iger, president, Capital Cities/ABC

39. Norman Pearlstine, editor in chief, Time Warner

40. George Lucas, founder, Lucasfilm

41. Steven Jobs, CEO, NeXT

42. Esther Dyson, president, EDventure Holdings

43. Steven Rattner, managing director, Lazard Freres & Co.

44. Gordon Crawford, senior VP, Crawford Research Co.

45. Robert Frankenberg, CEO, Novell

46. Theodore Forstmann, partner, Forstmann Little & Co.

47. Scott Cook, chairman, Intuit

48. Howard Stringer, CEO, Tele-TV

49. Doug Carlston, CEO, Broderbund Software

50. Nicholas Negroponte, founder, M.I.T. Media Lab

'' Please stop it.''

- Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic on BBC TV Sept. 6, pleading in a humble tone for a halt in NATO bombing.

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