News In Brief
The US
The Dow Jones industrial average reversed its late-August slump and posted the largest one-day increase in history - 257.36 points. The buying spree began after the nation's purchasing managers reported that manufacturing activity remained at vigorous levels last month. The Dow closed at 7,879.78 Tuesday. The previous one-day record jump was 187 points, on Oct. 21, 1987.
Documents purporting to show that Vice President Gore acted innocently in attending an apparently illegal 1996 Democratic fund-raiser at a Buddhist temple near Los Angeles were released by the White House. But although the release was design- ed to indicate that Gore did not know the event was a fund-raiser, one internal memo suggested otherwise. After a month-long recess, the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee is scheduled to resume hearings into Democratic fund-raising today. Buddhist clerics from the California temple have been granted immunity from prosecution to testify.
US Middle East mediator Dennis Ross was to begin two days of meetings with visiting Israeli and Palestinian officials in Washington now that security concerns in the region have eased, the State Department said. A spokesman would not divulge which issues Ross planned to discuss with the two sides. Secretary of State Albright is scheduled to make her first official visit to the Middle East next week.
Prosecutors in the Unabomb-er trial sought to compel law-yers for Theodore Kaczynski to disclose in advance what form of mental illness they will claim for their client. The prosecution also asked a federal judge in Sacramento, Calif., to order a mental examination of Kaczynski by government experts. The defense objected to both requests, arguing they would violate Kaczynski's constitutional right against self-incrimination.
One in every 3 Mexicans living in the US is an illegal immigrant, a new study by research-ers from both countries found. Of the estimated 7.3 million people of Mexican birth in the US, about 2.4 million do not have the required documents, it said. But the survey, commissioned in 1995 by presidents Clinton of the US and Zedillo of Mexico, also concluded that the inflow of undocumented Mexicans appears to be far lower than the 1 million a year claimed by some political candidates prior to last year's elections.
The price of cigarettes to wholesalers went up 7 cents a pack - a move that industry analysts said was designed to help meet the first-year costs of settlements reached by tobacco companies with states that had sued to recover Medicaid payments for treating ill smokers. Meanwhile, in Miami, lawyers in the second-hand smoke trial sought permission to show jurors the videotaped testimony of two tobacco-company executives who admit they believe cigarette smoking is a health risk.
If the nation's first Republican presidential primary were held today, the winner would be Gov. George W. Bush of Texas, according to a New Hampshire survey. RKM Research & Communications of Portsmouth said 16 percent of respondents favored the son of former President George Bush, with former vice presidential candidate Jack Kemp second at 12 percent. The poll sampled 400 registered Republicans between Aug. 27-30.
For the first time in 67 years, uncooked beef from Argentina was introduced to the US market. Imports had been banned for health reasons, but a quota of 20,000 tons a year was allowed when the South American country was declared free of hoof-and-mouth disease in May. Suppliers say Argentine beef is less fatty than that produced in the US because cattle there are raised on grass rather than on grain, hormones, and steroids.
Rudolph Bing, who died in Yonkers, N.Y., led the Metropolitan Opera to new heights of popularity and artistic achievement in his 22 years as general manager. He was credited with more than tripling the subscribers list (to 17,000), with extending the Met's season from 18 weeks to 31, with hiring its first black soloist and prima ballerina, and with overseeing its 1966 move to Lincoln Center.
The World
French photographers being investigated for manslaughter denied blame for the deaths of Diana, Princess of Wales; her companion, Dodi Al Fayed; and their driver. Some of the photographers said the driver, who was racing at high speeds before Sunday's crash despite allegedly being intoxicated, had managed to elude them before the crash. Others denied accusations of hindering rescuers. Six photographers and a motorcycle driver were named as suspects in the case.
Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic wants to negotiate demands that he be tried on suspicion of war crimes, and aide said. Momcilo Krajisnik made the offer in Pale, Karadzic's headquarters in Bosnia, during a meeting with UN human-rights investigator Elisabeth Rehn. He said Rehn could mediate between Karadzic and the UN's war-crimes tribunal in The Hague, which has indicted him. Rehn did not comment on the offer.
Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic met with the top foreign diplomat in Bosnia, Carlos Westendorp, in Belgrade. The two were expected to discuss the power struggle between Karadzic and Bosnian Serb sub-state President Biljana Plavsic.
Seven Central American nations and one Caribbean ally agreed to form a political union to give the region more clout in the global arena. Leaders from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, signed the accord to create an alliance modeled on the European Union during a summit in Managua, Nicaragua Also signing as less than full partners were Belize, Panama, and the Dominican Republic. The accord allows each country to maintain its sovereignty while developing closer political, cultural, and environmental ties.
A regional summit on Burundi opened to decide whether sanctions against the country should be toughened. Presidents of Ethiopia, Rwanda, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe were expected to attend the two-day meeting in Tanzania. Regional states slammed an economic and trade embargo on Burundi after an army coup in July of last year brought retired major Pierre Buyoya to power. The African leaders are demanding that Buyoya lift a ban on political parties, restore Burundi's legislature, and hold all-party talks.
A Vietnam Airlines jet crashed as it approached Cambodia's international airport in heavy rain. The Soviet-built Tupolev 134, arriving from Ho Chin Minh City went down in a rice paddy in Phnom Penh, about a half-mile from the runway. One Thai child survived the crash, but the remaining 65 people on board, mostly from Korea, Taiwan, and Japan, were killed.
The Philippine peso hit another record low, losing 3 percent of its value against the US dollar. Traders said concerns over regional currencies heightened after the Thai baht fell to new lows against the dollar.
Colombian police said they seized $17 billion in assets owned by Pablo Escobar, the late leader of the Medelln drug cartel. The 68 properties taken in and around Medelln included warehouses, apartments, offices and stores, police said. The seizures were made under terms of a tough new asset-forfeiture law. Escobar was killed in a shootout with police in 1993.
Some 300 Comoros Islands Army troops, who invaded Anjouan to try to end a secession by force, encountered little resistance, a spokesman for President Mohamed Taki said. Separatists on Anjouan and another island, Moheli, seceded from the three-island archipelago last month, saying the government is corrupt. Other African nations and France, the former colonial power, have been pressuring Taki to seek a peaceful settlement.
"The bears had their chance, and once again . . . they blew it."
- Analyst Alfred Goldman, on the biggest one-day point increase in the history of blue-chip stock trading following a late-August market slump.
Etceteras
OK, you're driving across central Kansas and searching the dial for some music to keep you entertained. Don't tune to KYEZ-FM in Salina - unless you want to hear "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts over and over and over and, well, you get the idea. The station is switching formats from "contemporary country" and chose the Jett opus to warm up listeners for the change. They must be positively sizzling by now. Since Aug. 19 it has been playing the song 22 times an hour, around the clock.
Elsewhere on the dial, an Atlanta FM station has enticed four listeners to take part in an endurance contest of a different sort. The two men and two women have been sitting together inside a 1998 Nissan Altima at a shopping mall since Aug. 28. The last one remaining wins the car. The contestants are denied access to books, magazines, and TV. But they do get bathroom breaks.
The citizens of High Littleton, England, were more than willing to take it to the max to help someone in need. It seems a beloved local hobo known only as - yes - Max faced eviction from the woods where he has lived for 10 years because the owners had put the land up for sale. The villagers chipped in $42,100 to buy it so he wouldn't lose his home.
The Day's List
'G.I. Jane' Strikes Again At Weekend Box-Office
For the second weekend in a row, "G.I. Jane," starring Demi Moore as the first female Navy SEAL, raked in more cash than "Money Talks" at box offices nationwide. The 10 top films from Aug. 29-Sept. 1, with their estimated grosses (in millions of dollars):
1. "G.I. Jane" $10.1
2. "Money Talks" 9.5
3. "Air Force One" 8.1
4. "Hoodlum" 7.8
5. "Conspiracy Theory" 6.8
6. "Mimic" 6.5
7. "Excess Baggage" 6.3
8. "Cop Land" 6.1
9. "Kull the Conqueror" 3.5
10. "Men in Black" 3.3
- Exhibitor Relations Inc./AP
