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+"ORG said DATE it agreed to acquire ORG for MONEY in cash and stock, a move that would create the largest bank in GPE.
+The companies said the acquisition will create the largest locally managed and independently owned financial services organisation based in the southern LOC. It will make PERSON the largest banking company in GPE, with PERCENT of the state's deposits, PERSON said.
+Mercantile will become the largest bank in GPE, where it is headquartered, and in GPE, GPE, and will strengthen its presence in other major GPE markets such as GPE.
+Roosevelt, a savings and loan with MONEY in assets that is also based in GPE, has CARDINAL offices and branches in GPE, GPE and GPE.
+The acquisition follows ORG's agreement to buy ORG, another GPE-based bank, for MONEY in stock. That deal was announced on DATE.
+""Our combination with PERSON will materially enhance our mix of strong retail, middle market lending and other speciality businesses,"" Mercantile Chairman PERSON said in a statement.
+Mercantile plans to take a pretax charge of MONEY for merger-related costs when the deal closes DATE but also expects it to add to earnings in DATE and DATE, officials said.
+The deal would save MONEY a year in branch costs DATE, PERSON said but would not elaborate on how many branches would be closed.
+""There will be some certainly, but probably fewer than you might think,"" PERSON said at a news conference.
+Analysts said they were told separately that CARDINAL overlapping branches were expected to be closed by DATE.
+Due to attrition and since the CARDINAL companies will not be completely merged, layoffs were expected to be minimal, officials said.
+""We're not aware of anyone at this time that won't be able to find a role with the ongoing company,"" said PERSON, chief executive at ORG.
+Mercantile, which said both the PERSON and PERSON acquisitions were expected to close in DATE, would not rule out future acquisitions.
+""We have continuing interest in GPE, GPE and GPE,"" said PERSON, group vice president for emerging markets at ORG. ""GPE has interest to us and would also be a logical extension.""
+The Mercantile that emerges after the pending takeovers are completed will have MONEY in assets and could itself become an attractive takeover target, analysts said.
+Mercantile, which will have a stock market worth of MONEY, could be even more attractive once the acquisitions have been assimilated.
+""I'd say ORG was already attractive anyway,"" said PERSON, a banking analyst at ORG, which advised PERSON on the deal. ""This makes them no less atttractive.""
+PERSON, banking analyst at ORGamp; ORG, ""I think it makes PERSON more attractive. It gives them the No. CARDINAL market share across the state.""
+Mercantile said it will exchange CARDINAL shares of its stock at a ratio of ORG share for each PERSON share, and pay $MONEY cash for each remaining share.
+Based on the $MONEY closing price DATE of PERSON's shares on ORG, the exchange ratio would value PERSON shares at MONEY each. PERSON's stock closed DATE at $MONEY on ORG.
+Roosevelt shares added $MONEY to $MONEY on ORG while Mercantile stock fell MONEYMONEY on ORG.
+Mercantile also said it planned to repurchase CARDINAL CARDINAL of its own shares in connection with the acquisition.","'Twas DATE and all through the malls, retailers were looking for TIME push for a merry holiday sales season.
+Industry analysts said sales were hovering near or a shade below expectations for DATE so far.
+After a strong start, sales came in below retailers' own expectations DATE, according to a DATE survey of chain store sales by ORG, a venture of CARDINAL investment houses.
+Analyst PERSON at ORG-Mitsubishi, which compiles the index with ORG, said he expected DATE sales to rise PERCENT, compared with earlier expectations for PERCENT PERCENT rise.
+But activity picked up DATE and DATE as shoppers, pinched by DATE between Christmas and DATE DATE or just old-fashioned procrastination, rushed to find gifts at TIME, retailers said.
+""It definitely feels active,"" said PERSON, assistant manager at an ORGamp; ORG in GPE. ""DATE (Monday, I'd say, was probably the busiest,"" she said, noting that ORG customers spend MONEY apiece, on average.
+At ORG, TIME shopping has been hectic, store manager PERSON said in GPE.
+""It's out of control. DATE was DATE. We started sales extremely early to draw business, but everyone's shopping TIME,"" she said, noting the average sale has been MONEY.
+In GPE, lone men, coursing through stores with a clear purpose, accounted for a good portion of store traffic on DATE. ""I'm just not finished yet. I get lazy, I guess,"" said PERSON.
+PERSON said he, too, fell behind in his holiday shopping, adding that he's spending about the same as he did in DATE.
+PERSON, senior retailing analyst at ORG, said sales should be PERCENT above DATE results, measuring on a store-for-store basis.
+ORG said sales at department stores have slowed in DATE after a strong holiday start while discounters have done well.
+But people were still spending freely DATE, reflecting a trend toward later shopping during the season, ORG said.
+Clothing, shoes, jewelry and certain toys, such as ORG's new video game system and ORG WORK_OF_ART, sold very well, ORG said.
+""Consumer electronics was a very poor category,"" he added, noting retailers were offering free computer accessories and generous financing terms to stir up interest.
+Analysts said DATE as a whole should be strong for retailers, boosted by tighter inventories and fewer unplanned promotions, as well as comparisons with a dismal season DATE.
+Clothing continues to lead the stronger sales.
+""My read so far is I don't think it was as promotional as DATE in apparel,"" said PERSON, retailing analyst at ORGamp; ORG.. He added that electronics sales appeared to be under much more pressure than apparel.
+PERSON at Dillon Read & ORG, said he expected sales to rise PERCENT PERCENT overall but PERCENT at comparable stores open DATE.
+Discounters and off-price retailers such as TJX Cos. Inc. and ORG, as well as some of the big chains, notably ORG and ORG, should do better than average, he said.",1
+"Ivorian CARDINAL cocoa arrivals picked up in DATE, pushing the total to QUANTITY by DATE, analysts and exporters said.
+This was still down on the QUANTITY recorded by DATE.
+The CARDINAL figure includes QUANTITY of arrivals in DATE in DATE as DATE opened DATE late.
+""The problem now is that there is too much cocoa in the port,"" said CARDINAL exporter with offices in GPE and San Pedro.
+""Some exporters in GPE are slowing down (buying) because there is no storage space left.""
+Sources close to ORG marketing board gave an even higher arrivals total -- QUANTITY by DATE, excluding DATE QUANTITY. Exporters said the estimate was too high.
+One exporter put arrivals lower, with QUANTITY at GPE and CARDINAL taken to GPE.
+Other exporters put total arrivals at QUANTITY by DATE after CARDINAL for DATE.
+""Cocoa is coming in at QUANTITY (DATE) so there's a lot of cocoa about,"" said another exporter. ""Quality is still quite good with bean sizes averaging CARDINAL (beans per QUANTITY),"" he added.
+Humidity levels were around PERCENT due to a lack of harmattan drying winds usually seen at DATE, he said. Exportable quality is PERCENT.
+Up country buyers noted, however, that humidity levels had already fallen from PERCENT noted in DATE.
+""Bean sizes are around 95-97 per QUANTITY but humidity is already down to PERCENT because of the sun,"" said CARDINAL GPE buyer, adding that the harmattan had arrived there.
+National weather data showed no rains at CARDINAL out of CARDINAL monitoring stations in DATE. Rain at the other CARDINAL was negligible.
+Up-country buyers said bush tracks had now dried out after DATE problems and collection rates were normal.
+""There is still a bit of cocoa out there and we expect DATE will be a bit better than usual,"" said PERSON, a buyer working around GPE. ""As for the mid-crop question, we don't know yet,"" he added.
+Buyers said they were paying at least the minimum recommended farmgate price of CARDINAL CFA a kilo despite poor world prices and initially poor exporter offtake.
+Exporters had originally said they would begin marketing a large coffee crop earlier then usual. ""Some people turned attention back to cocoa as coffee quality turned out to be terrible,"" said CARDINAL exporter.
+PERSON exporters said they expected strong arrivals to continue at least into DATE. Other exporters said they expected a DATE tail-off.
+Shipping forwarders said warehouses were filling up but did not give precise warehouse figures. CARDINAL source said QUANTITY of cocoa had been exported since DATE.
+""People talk of CARDINAL sitting as stock,"" said the port source. ""A middle figure would be a good working assumption,"" he added.
+The industry's focus is now turning to final estimates for the mid-crop, which so far has been put at anything CARDINAL and QUANTITY.
+Pod counters were expected to complete up-country tours in DATE before firming up estimates.
+-- Abidjan newsroom +225 CARDINAL","GPE opened DATE of cocoa sector reform talks on DATE aimed at fine-tuning donor-sponsored liberalisation policies, with bean quality high on the agenda.
+""Liberalisation is about reducing the role of the state. We need less state but a better state,"" said PERSON, president of GPE ORG, which is hosting the talks which end on DATE.
+ORG president PERSON told ORG CARDINAL issues would dominate the talks.
+""The main issues are the quality of the cocoa and the assurance of contracts,"" he said before going into talks.
+PERSON ORG, grouping NORP officials, loan donors and international cocoa industry bodies, was set up in DATE under the terms of a ORG).
+GPE has liberalised internal and some external cocoa marketing functions since DATE but there have been industry concerns over cocoa quality and the functioning of a new commodities auction system in place since DATE.
+Other agenda items include an overall review of reforms, cocoa quality issues, local processing of cocoa and policy revision recommendations.
+PERSON commodities minister, PERSON, said reform revisions would help GPE competitiveness.
+""A problem remains with importers about quality,"" PERSON told reporters before going into the private talks.
+""The proposals forming part of the sector reforms deal with quality and security of supplies for NORP and NORP importers,"" he added, referring to complaints by exporters that some firms were overbidding on the auction system to win contracts.
+Revisions to the auction system would be discussed but were not officially on the agenda, NORP told ORG.
+""Nothing is perfect and the auction system could well have weak points which could be corrected and for which proposals could be made,"" he said during a TIME break in talks.
+Further cuts in the role of the NORP marketing board would also be discussed, he added.
+ORG president ORG said industry would argue for changes to the auction system and seek better quality controls.
+""What we do not like is the PERCENT rule as there is too little chance for foreign companies to buy cocoa directly,"" he added.
+Under auction rules PERCENT of NORP cocoa export rights are auctioned to local exporters, with PERCENT PERCENT reserved by the PRODUCT for direct sale to traders abroad.
+""The problem is that, of PERCENT is sold to ORG so PERCENT is available for the rest of international trade,"" he added.
+U.S.-based trader ORG has a long-standing cocoa contract with the Caisab which is due to expire DATE.
+ORG also referred to concerns over cocoa quality.
+""Usually we see a deterioration of quality after DATE, in fact about now. The main problem is a lack of proper quality checks,"" he said.
+ORG, ORG, ORG, ORG, GPE's development agency and NORP officials will issue their findings on DATE. -- Abidjan newsroom +225 CARDINAL",1
+"Shares in Cable and GPE, GPE's ORDINAL biggest telecoms group, lost more ground on DATE as analysts said the MONEY creation of NORP-U.S. Concert Plc had thrown the group its biggest challenge to date.
+Uninspiring results from ORG and ORG' (C&W) lucrative GPE subsidiary, ORG, on which the NORP group relies for PERCENT of attributable profits, also helped depress the stock.
+C&W, faced with a change of government in GPE DATE and growing competition in the territory, has also been dogged by talk that it may have to sell part of its GPE stake in return for a worthwhile position in GPE. ""I think the Hong Kong Telecom figures TIME served to remind people that that is where most of the money comes from,"" said PERSON, telecoms analyst at ORG. ""Not a particularly sparkling set of figures.""
+The GPE unit lifted net profits PERCENT, under some analysts' expectations, to HK$5.39 billion.
+While C&W's shares ended MONEY lower at CARDINAL, executives of its GPE unit insisted that they were unconcerned by the mega-merger, announced over DATE, between ORG and ORG to form the ORDINAL biggest international carrier.
+But analysts said the huge merger, creating a MONEY company, posed a substantial threat to telecom rivals and could make it harder for C&W to expand in GPE.
+""What we saw at the weekend has thrown down the gauntlet to everyone else,"" PRODUCT said. ""It is a challenge to absolutely every other operator and I'm not sure that CARDINAL of those other guys have got a coherent response.""
+Had Cable and ORG' own merger talks with ORG not broken down in DATE, that deal, valued at MONEY (MONEY), as a deal would have easily eclipsed the ORG/ORG merger.
+But ORG's new strategic plans makes it one of the biggest players in GPE behind market leader ORG and ORG' own GPE operation brings in DATE revenues of MONEY -- a far cry from ORG's share, which now jumps to MONEY a year.
+Analysts agree that ORG has proved to the market that Cable and ORG (C&W) is bid proof, partly because it is hard to value its GPE stake. What the do see happening however, is that C&W will seek to increase its foothold in the increasingly competitive GPE telecoms market and link up with new partners.
+""The important thing for C&W is to get more of a presence there and my guess is that they will do that in an alliance,"" ORG said.
+Few industry analysts took market rumours seriously that ORG's latest expansion plans would prompt its arch-rival in the international market, ORG, to bid for C&W -- or even launch an immediate takeover of mobile phone operator Vodafone.
+As for an alliance partner for C&W, the bets were on ORG Its subsidiary ORG CableComms is the largest minority shareholder in Cable and ORG, an alliance creating GPE's largest cable operator.
+ORG also has an international diversification strategy centered around LOC, similar to that of C&W. Other potential GPE partners could be ORG (PacTel), which is being taken over by ORG. However, LAW is more interested in central or south GPE, analysts said. ($MONEY Pound)","GPE plans to develop bigger rockets to carry heavier payloads into space and expand its role in the commercial satellite market, NORP aerospace officials said on DATE.
+The ambitious, long-term goal was to build rockets that could carry QUANTITY payloads -- more than twice the current capacity of the nation's most powerful launch vehicles, they said.
+""This is a long-term goal that could stretch into DATE of DATE,"" said a spokeswoman for ORG, which coordinates GPE's satellite launch business.
+""GPE needs rockets to put multiple satellites into orbit -- both for its own domestic use and to help its position in the commercial space market,"" she told ORG.
+GPE's existing rockets have the capacity to carry payloads of QUANTITY for lower earth orbits and CARDINAL-5.0 tonnes for geosynchronous orbits.
+It has already launched multiple satellites on a single launch but officials say more development is needed.
+""We will begin a development programme as soon as possible to lay a firm foundation for the new development of NORP launch vehicle technology in DATE,"" said PERSON, president of ORG.
+""We will develop technologies, especially some key technologies for a heavy lift launch vehicle with a payload of QUANTITY,"" he said in a paper delivered at an international conference on space technology.
+He also said GPE would continue to study reusable space transport systems such as the GPE space shuttle and manned flights -- although officials said these plans were unlikely to be taken into the development stage anytime soon.
+GPE, which put its ORDINAL satellite in orbit in DATE, has been trying to expand its role in the commercial space market, despite a series of recent setbacks.
+A Chinese Long March 3 rocket, considered one of the nation's more reliable launch vehicles, failed to put a U.S.-built satellite into proper orbit in DATE.
+""It was due to a tiny problem with a valve leakage,"" a scientist who worked on the rocket told ORG.
+""But that small error meant the whole launch was a failure.""
+In DATE, technical flaws had even more disastrous results when a Long March 3B rocket exploded shortly after lift-off, killing CARDINAL people and injuring CARDINAL.
+GPE says it still has a high success rate for its satellite launches but the latest setbacks have tarnished its reputation.
+GPE also sees a need to step up its satellite production technology.
+""We are behind the LOC in rocket technology but we are even farther behind in satellites,"" said the ORG spokeswoman. ""We need to be able to build more sophisticated satellites with more transponders.""
+The development plans will require a lot of funding, and although senior ORG officials are backing the space campaign, there are plenty of other government projects that demand a share of the budget.
+NORP officials declined to say how much money would be committed to the rocket development project or the space sector overall.
+""I can say that our space budget is merely a fraction of what GPE spends on its space programme,"" said a senior aerospace official.",0
+"An independent shareholder advisory firm recommended DATE that investors of ORG reject a key provision in the railroad's proposed acquisition by ORG
+GPE-based ORG, which provides corporate analyses to institutional clients, suggested that shareholders defeat a proposal that would permit ORG to pursue its proposed MONEY stock and cash transaction.
+In making the recommendation, senior analyst PERSON noted ORG rival MONEY cash bid that has been rejected by ORG.
+""We believe that all shareholders should be treated equally in any merger transaction, and because of ORG's higher offer currently outstanding, we do not believe it would be in shareholders' best interest to opt out of the fair price provision at this time,"" PERSON wrote in a CARDINAL-page report.
+Conrail investors are being asked to waive a GPE law that requires an all-cash payment by ORG, which already has bought PERCENT of ORG in a cash tender offer.
+In DATE, ORG and ORG announced a merger that calls for ORG to buy ORG in a cash-and-stock deal.
+ORG is offering to pay $MONEY in cash for PERCENT of ORG's outstanding shares. Based on DATE's closing stock prices, PERCENT would be bought for MONEY per share.
+Although ORG has submitted a higher all-cash bid, ORG contends the ORG offer is a better fit.
+Institutional Shareholder Services disputed that argument, saying that both potential combinations would create an LOC railroad powerhouse.
+""However, ORG's front-end loaded, CARDINAL-tiered takeover does not treat all ORG shareholders fairly, and the lock-ups provided in the agreement have denied ORG shareholders the possibility of accepting a higher payment for their shares,"" PERSON wrote.
+Under the agreement between ORG and ORG, ORG would be prohibited from entering a pact with another company before DATE.
+""The only thing prohibiting the higher offer from being presented to sharheolders are the barriers erected by ORG to ensure the company merges with ORG,"" PERSON wrote.
+ORG declined to comment on the report. ORG also did not have any immediate comment.
+ORG has scheduled a special shareholder meeting for DATE to consider a waiver of the GPE law.
+Institutional Shareholder Services, which held meetings with ORG and ORG, also recommended that shareholders reject a ORG request to adjourn the meeting if more votes are needed to ensure passage of the waiver.
+""In this case, shareholders already have the information they need to make their voting decisions. Once their votes have been cast, there is no justification to spend extra money to continue pressing shareholders for more votes,"" PERSON wrote.
+The shareholder advisory firm also said the ORG union could run into trouble from ORG, the federal regulatory agency overseeing railroads.
+""Although ORG and ORG believe ORG approval and/or concessions will not create significant problems, we see the competitive issues as a major concern, and do not share ORG's belief that ORG approval of the transaction is assured,"" PERSON wrote.
+He also noted that many shareholders expect ORG and ORG to amend their pact to sweeten the stock portion of their proposed transaction.
+""ORG has indicated that it has had discussions with ORG about raising the back end of the consideration to make the offer more equitable to shareholders, but no decisions have been made to date,"" PERSON wrote.
+He also noted that ORG would likely raise its rival offer if ORG sweetened its deal.
+Separately on DATE, ORG and GPE said it planned to intervene in any ORG merger and would hire a consultant to analyse the impact of any transaction.","Billionaire investor PERSON on DATE announced an MONEY bid for closely-held ORG, maker of GPE condoms and GPE deodorant.
+PERSON offered to buy outstanding stock of ORG for $MONEY a share, reflecting a PERCENT premium over its recent trading price.
+PERSON-Wallace confirmed in a CARDINAL-paragrpah statement that it received the offer, saying it would refer the bid to majority sharheolder ORG
+Shares of ORG jumped $MONEY to $MONEY on ORG, but remained below the $MONEY offer level due to market speculation that PERSON-Wallace might be reluctant to sell.
+""I think the board is going to be completely unreceptive to this,"" said CARDINAL trader who specialises in takeover situations and spoke on condition he not be identified.
+Based on ORG CARDINAL shares outstanding, the offer from the financier's GPE-based ORG was valued at MONEY.
+Most traders gave the bid slim chance of succeeding because PERSON-Wallace has previously expressed little interest in selling the company. Furthermore, insiders control PERCENT of ORG via common stock and a special class of shares.
+""With all of that control, they can do a 'just say no defence',"" said another stock arbitrager.
+PERSON is dominated by members of the PERSON family. Chief Executive Officer and Chairman PERSON is the son of the executive who took over management of ORG in DATE. Family members hold other key positions.
+PERSON urged the company to consider its bid.
+""While we recognise that controlling interest in the company's stock is held by the PERSON family, we believe the company's board of directors will act responsibly and in the best interests of all the shareholders in considering our offer,"" PERSON said in a news release.
+Market sources speculated that PERSON has been buying up shares of ORG in DATE. A spokeswoman for PERSON said he had a ""material interest"" in the company, but she declined to be specific.
+The DATE PERSON is well-known on Wall Street for his corporate investments.
+A former chairman of ORG, he recently was CARDINAL of several dissident shareholders of ORG who tried to wrest control from oilman PERSON. Pickens has since passed the baton to financier PERSON. The PERSON spokeswoman said he is no longer involved with ORG.
+PERSON also is developing a riverboat casino and entertainment centre in GPE, GPE
+Carter-Wallace has long been viewed on Wall Street as an acquisition candidate. At the company's meeting in DATE, some shareholders criticised its low stock price but a shareholder proposal to consider a merger was rejected.
+DATE, PERSON-Wallace named PERSON to the position of president and chief operating officer of the company. PERSON, who had been vice president, secretary and general counsel, was named to replace a retiring executive.
+In DATE, the company ran into trouble when the federal ORG advised physicians to stop prescribing its ORG epilepsy drug due to links with a bone marrow disorder.",1
+"GPE's chemical industry faces a period of steady growth in DATE, helped by improvements in NORP economic prospects and lower stock levels, the industry's trade body said.
+In an interview with ORG, ORG (ORG) director-general PERSON said that after an erratic performance over DATE, stock of chemicals ""are fairly low...and as a result of that we see prospects for pretty steady growth over DATE.""
+Speaking ahead of a DATE conference on the outlook for the industry DATE, PERSON said prospects in the rest of LOC, which takes DATE of NORP output and CARDINAL of all exports, ""are better than one might have thought DATE.""
+PERSON said he believed the disruption caused by NORP reunification was now easing, while problems linked to the struggle to meet GPE convergence criteria for a single currency was also nearing its climax.
+""Those CARDINAL large factors mean that there are some quite good times ahead,"" PERSON said.
+But he warned that concern about the recent sharp rise in the value of sterling was causing concern among chemical companies, describing the current level of MONEY and $MONEY as ""unpalatable.""
+""$MONEY was nice, $MONEY we could live with but $MONEY is too much,"" PERSON said, but he added that sterling's strength should not undermine the ""steady, warmish prospects for DATE.""
+He said GPE's chemical industry, which is the ORDINAL largest in LOC after GPE and GPE with DATE sales of MONEY stg, was in a strong position.
+Access to LOC oil feedstocks gives the GPE an advantage in bulk chemicals, while NORP companies also produce a wide range of high-performance specialty chemicals in fast-growth areas like ink-jet colour printing.
+But PERSON said he was concerned about levels of research and development spending by parts of the industry. NORP chemical companies spend PERCENT of turnover on R&D compared with PERCENT for pharmaceuticals and an average of PERCENT in LOC's chemical business as a whole.
+""I think there are some middle-ranking companies in the industry whose expenditure on R&D is less than some...might consider sensible given the hotting up of international compeition,"" said PERSON.
+PERSON said innovation would also be a key theme of DATE business outlook conference on DATE, and was vital if the industry was to meet the challenge of competition from southeast LOC, GPE and GPE.
+""We are still a very inventive country,"" said PERSON. ""Despite all the moaning we are still pretty good at fundamental science, and in our industry we are pretty good at bridging the gap between fundamental science and products.""
+PERSON +44 CARDINAL 7717","Biotechnology star NORP PERSON published fresh evidence on DATE that its cancer drug ORG worked, but analysts said there was still a long way to go before its potential could be confirmed.
+NORP Biotech's shares ended DATE MONEY lower at PRODUCT after its keenly-awaited announcement appeared to provide comfort for both bulls and bears on ORG.
+Some predicted that ORG, a new class of cancer drug, could DATE have sales of MONEY a year and project ORG into the blue chip FT-SE CARDINAL index.
+Some analysts said presentations on the drug's effectiveness in gastric, colo-rectal, ovarian and pancreatic cancer to a science conference in GPE were a rehash of data published in DATE, which sent the share price soaring to record levels.
+""Those who were sceptical in DATE will remain sceptical and those who were bullish in DATE will remain bullish,"" said CARDINAL.
+Finance director PERSON told ORG the company had been deliberately cautious about its statement on DATE, because it was ""extremely concerned not to raise patients' hopes of the drug.""
+But he said there was ""significant"" evidence that ORG increased the chances of survival in cancer patients and added ""in many ways I think it is the most impressive data since the company was founded.""
+The studies, based on CARDINAL cancer patients who continued taking the drug after the DATE period required for ORG trials, confirmed ORG's ability to reduce the rate of rise of cancer antigens, CARDINAL measure of how much cancer is present in the body.
+""Those patients who continued to take it for DATE lived ... significantly longer"" than those who stopped taking it, ORG said.
+One of the supporters of the drug, PERSON analyst PERSON, agreed, saying that ""on this information DATE we can say that ... PERCENT (of patients) had a real overall response which improved their survival chance significantly.""
+However, others expressed disappointment that NORP Biotech failed to provide more detailed analysis of side-effects caused by ORG. The ORG-based group confirmed that it caused joint pain, mainly in the arm and shoulder, with PERCENT of patients affected after DATE.
+ORG analyst Erling Refsum said the side effect profile would be crucial to ORG's potential.
+""Drugs become top sellers because of their side effect profile rather than because of their efficacy profile,"" he said.
+Noble played down concerns about side effects, saying ""they are not a serious problem. They are reversible.""
+Patients who suffered badly could interrupt their treatment from time to time without adverse impact.
+Analysts said credible estimates of exactly how big ORG will turn out to be would be impossible until final, Phase III trials were completed.
+This means investors will have to wait until DATE at the earliest for hard evidence about whether their optimism about ORG and NORP Biotech is well founded.",1
+"NORP resources and steel group ORG (ORG) posted a PERCENT fall in DATE profits on DATE, further disappointing the share market after DATE.
+BHP, whose shares have been hammered since its key markets in steel and copper turned sour DATE, posted a MONEY (MONEY) net profit for DATE, down from A$MONEY for DATE.
+But GPE's largest quoted company had its bottom line boosted by an abnormal gain of MONEY and investors were not impressed.
+The share price climbed MONEY to a high of A$MONEY just after the result but took a tumble and settled at MONEY, still MONEY higher than DATE's close.
+""It's pretty lousy,"" CARDINAL fund manager's stock analyst told ORG.
+Though forecast signs of improvement emerged in ORG's battered copper division, with the NORP copper operations swinging back into profit, analysts had been tipping a DATE group pre-abnormal result of MONEY.
+ORG's pre-abnormal net profit of MONEY was PERCENT down on the corresponding 1995/96 period.
+But managing director PERSON said DATE figures showed an accelerating improvement in performance.
+""We are seeing an improvement in DATE on quarter on quarter and the trend to improvement is accelerating,"" he said in a taped interview released to the media after the result.
+""I think we are moving ahead. We have a lot of work to do and we're going to build the company around its high-quality assets and we are starting to see the results of our work.""
+Including abnormals, ORG's minerals, copper and steel divisions all contributed increased earnings in DATE compared with DATE. The steel division was flat.
+Petroleum was the biggest earner with MONEY for DATE, but this included an abnormal gain of MONEY from the settlement of a dispute over a gas resource tax.
+ORG pre-abormal result also included a MONEY windfall from asset sales and a larger than expected exploration expense.
+""The initial reaction (to the result) was positive but this has been followed by disappointment,"" said PERSON, a dealer at ORG broker PERSON.
+ORG's minerals division, a major world producer of iron ore and coal, doubled its contribution to profit in DATE to MONEY, due largely to higher world prices.
+ORG benefitted from a recent firming in the copper price and a cut of MONEY per pound in its NORP operating costs to post DATE profit of MONEY, up from MONEY in DATE.
+The GPE copper operations, acquired DATE with the MONEY purchase of ORG, made a loss on a full-cost basis in DATE. ORG said on DATE PERSON had swung back into profit in DATE.
+ORG DATE profit was flat at MONEY.","ORG runoff elections on DATE and DATE should have little impact on NORP capital markets, as investors focus on macroeconomic fundamentals rather than political influences.
+Analysts said DATE ORDINAL round of voting gave a mild boost to the NORP crown and ORG, and unless results from the ORDINAL round of voting on DATE and DATE vary greatly, little further movement should be seen.
+""Provided that nothing drastic happens, it's pretty much a non-starter from a foreign investor point of view. I think that for the markets, it will be pretty much a non-event,"" PERSON, of ORG, said on DATE.
+In DATE voting, Prime Minister PERSON's right-wing ORG (ORG) posted a strong result, capturing PERCENT of the national vote, an increase of PERCENT from DATE lower house elections where his coalition lost its majority.
+The opposition NORP (CSSD) were ORDINAL with PERCENT. The rest of the vote was thinly split among coalition parties and the NORP.
+PERCENT of the electorate voted in the elections.
+Of the CARDINAL ORG seats, the ORG won CARDINAL outright in the ORDINAL round and CARDINAL of their candidates were to go into the runoff, compared with CARDINAL for the CSSD. In CARDINAL constituencies, the runoff is a straight fight between the CARDINAL main parties.
+Analysts said that with the CARDINAL main parties assured of dominating the ORG, a body which will have limited powers anyway, little change appears imminent for the country's economic, or political course.
+""Our expectation is ORG gaining somewhere CARDINAL of the total, and including the rest of the coalition it might be well over 50 seats. I don't think there should be any surprises,"" said PERSON, an economist at ORG.
+Following DATE vote, the ORG, mired in DATE long slump began to edge higher, gaining PERCENT over DATE.
+But dealers said the gains were based more on weak local buying than a change in sentiment from key foreign investors.
+The crown too, ratcheted up slightly after the ORDINAL round of voting, but has since steadied at PERCENT stronger than its dollar/mark basket midpoint.
+Some analysts said foreign investors might be tempted, as they were DATE, to play on a strong ORG victory early on DATE, but any gain based on the political situation would be short lived.
+""There may be some bias toward a stronger NORP crown,"" said PERSON, a dealer at ORG. ""There's no other factor, more or less the basic impulse for that (a stronger crown) was really because of the elections, and then the subsequent recovery of the capital markets.""
+ORG's PERSON added: ""I wouldn't foresee any major changes in the fixed income market. The fixed income market is rather less sensitive to these political events than is the ORG (foreign exchange) market.""",0
+"An GPE liberalisation study focusing on quality, competition and less bureaucracy will be ready as planned by DATE, according to sources close to reforms.
+""CARDINAL options have to be reviewed,"" said CARDINAL source. ""Price stability while making DATE self-financing (with no carryovers DATE) will be looked at,"" the source added.
+The donor-sponsored study by private NORP firm ORG (LMC) would also seek to avoid pitfalls seen in countries such as LOC where unfettered liberalisation led to coffee quality problems and loss of premium.
+GPE embarked on a series of coffee and cocoa sector reforms in DATE as conditions for a CARDINAL-tranche MONEY ORG.
+Although the guideline farmgate coffee price was cut by CARDINAL CFA a kilo to CARDINAL CFA when the 1996/97 season opened in DATE, exporters point to continuing low world prices and the need for further support for the sector out of cocoa revenues.
+""We are in favour of complete liberalisation but with good quality controls kept in place,"" said CARDINAL industry buyer. ""The PRODUCT's role should be limited to a hands-off marketing role giving quality assurance and statistical information.""
+Coffee exporters expect support for coffee to run at around 100 CFA a kilo, as world prices remain low, until recommended prices are reset or entirely scrapped for CARDINAL.
+ORG) marketing board sets a guide price for farmers whereas once it dictated prices. Donors have already demanded further streamlining of its operations and increased transparency about a shadowy set of costs referred to in accounts as ""LOC"" costs.
+LOC expenditures for CARDINAL, which will partly determine stabilisation fund levels for coffee, are due to be set from DATE when the PRODUCT gives details of coffee forward sales.
+""The problem is that the PRODUCT has not released any (forward sales) data since DATE,"" said CARDINAL source. ""That puts everyone in a very difficult position.""
+The LOC cost for both coffee and cocoa is budgeted to be largely unchanged in CARDINAL from CARDINAL CFA a kilo in CARDINAL.
+The PRODUCT, whose new managing director PERSON was appointed in DATE but did not formally take over until DATE, declined immediate comment on the planned report.
+The PRODUCT employs over 900 people but with its role reduced it is expected to cut staff levels after overruning many budgeted running cost items in CARDINAL.
+""The real number of employees in unclear,"" said on source.
+The report will also look at how the PRODUCT can cut marketing margins through competition to below levels in competitor countries.
+""Some exporters who were expected to be off the list in CARDINAL for debts were let back in through the window DATE,"" said CARDINAL source.
+Advice for further competition in transportation, quality control and coffee bean hulling is also under review.
+Forward sales policy amid volatile world market prices and an increasingly spot-driven world market are also expected to be considered in the LMC report.
+GPE aims to encourage plantation rehabilitation and boost output to closer to QUANTITY a year from a forecast QUANTITY in CARDINAL.
+The PRODUCT phased out purchasing centres from CARDINAL to speed up the flow of produce to GPE main ports.
+It has also ended its monopoly over the import and distribution of collection sacks for coffee upcountry, but provides protection to local manufacturers against cheap imports from LOC.
+(MONEY)
+-- Abidjan newsroom +225 CARDINAL","NORP telecommunications company Energis said on DATE that its parent, the ORG electricity transmission network, might sell a majority stake in the company to CARDINAL or more strategic investors.
+Energis, which supplies telecoms services to CARDINAL business customers via the GPE's high voltage electricity pylons, is seeking both an international partner and one that will give it local access to key metropolitan areas.
+""We have an excellent core national network and a growing customer base,"" chief executive PERSON told ORG.
+""International connectivity and local access are the CARDINAL things to do next,"" he added in an interview.
+PERSON, who came from the country's dominant 'phone company ORG DATE, said PERSON had talked with all global carriers, with the exception of GPE, in its search for an international partner.
+""I think both Energis and the GPE initially see the GPE selling a minority stake in the business,"" PERSON said.
+But he added: ""For the right mix of partners, I think they could go PERCENT -- but still maintain a very large strategic and influential interest in the company.""
+Energis is on track for signing up an international partner DATE, PERSON said, noting: ""We're very much still in active discussions.""
+However, PERSON said talks with GPE telecoms giant ORG were ""not very active"". Some analysts tip the ORG alliance between GPE's ORG, ORG and ORG PERSON as a potential partner.
+Global One has little NORP access and Energis has already signed a ""correspondent agreement"" with ORG ORDINAL inernational carrier, to end each other's transatlantic calls.
+But Energis is keeping its options open. It has also talked to some international ""strategic investors"". ""(A partner) hasn't got to be a global carrier. It has to be a partner who can support us and add value to the business,"" PERSON stated.
+He conceded that a QUANTITY cable link-up between ORG and ORG, ORG, ORG and ORG, has highlighted Energis' lack of local loop access.
+""In a sense our discussions have broadened,"" he said.
+Energis, which needs to be able to match the cost structure of ORG and the new cable company Cable and ORG, is considering whether to link up with a cable company, other local operators or build its own network.
+Some analysts say that a significant equity partner in loss-making Energis, that has been valued at QUANTITY, could help inspire the GPE's lacklustre shares.
+The GPE is committed to investing MONEY per year into the loss-making telecoms subsidiary for the immediate forseeable future.
+-- GPE PRODUCT +44 CARDINAL DATE",0
+"A startup GPE software company DATE launched a product aimed at solving CARDINAL of the Internet's most vexing problems: information overload.
+ORG, formed a little more than a year ago by a software consultant and a former ORG executive, said its PERSON allowed users to seek customized information from World Wide Web sites that use the program.
+For example, a music fan visiting the popular ""WORK_OF_ART"" Web site could seek to be notified by a message similar to electronic mail every time new CD reviews were available. A mouse click on the notification message would take the user directly to the information.
+Intermind President PERSON said the software aims to go beyond news dissemination systems from ORG and others to allow more sophisticated ""dialogue"" between consumers and publishers, technology companies and retailers.
+Customers who frequent ORG web site could choose to be notified of any sales in selected categories and then easily could link up to the site and place an order. High-tech companies like ORG and ORG will use the system to send customers technical bulletins or information about new products.
+""This is the ultimate in custom publishing and narrowcasting,"" said PERSON, an industry constultant and newsletter publisher.
+Company officials said they hoped to distribute CARDINAL copies of the software, which is free to non-commercial users, by DATE. Commercial users will pay a fee based on revenue generated or subscribers reached, PERSON said.
+Arnold said the company, with CARDINAL employees in several offices, was ""strong financially."" He declined to identify the investors but confirmed published reports that cellular telephone pioneer PERSON is among the minority holders.
+The software, which works from within either of the CARDINAL major Internet browsers, is available for ORG's Windows 95 and Windows NT platforms and will be available within DATE for Windows CARDINAL. ORG PRODUCT and Unix versions are expected by DATE.
+So far more than 35 Internet and PERSON sites provide ORG"" that can be personally customized. Company executives said the software takes TIME to set up for customers or TIME for publishers, who do not need separate server software.","ORG is expected to use the biennial Farnborough Air Show in GPE DATE to formally launch the long-awaited stretch version of its PRODUCT jumbo jet, industry analysts say.
+While officials of the aerospace giant remain tight-lipped, analysts say it is all but certain executives will make a major announcement on DATE regarding CARDINAL new members of the PRODUCT family that will be known as PRODUCT and PRODUCT.
+""They're going to announce the airplanes -- there is no doubt,"" said PERSON, an analyst at ORG
+He said the only question was whether ORG would announce massive orders of MONEY or more from launch customers or merely disclose that its board of directors had given authorization to offer the jet.
+The announcement of the new models, which would include a jet with PERCENT more capacity than DATE's largest commercial airliner, is expected to be the highlight of the air show, frequently the stage for major order announcements and other industry news.
+ORG officials have said they are talking with CARDINAL airlines about the potential new versions of the jumbo jet, including ORG, ORG and ORG ORG.
+ORG President PERSON said the company's board of directors discussed the new plane at a regularly scheduled meeting DATE but had not made a decision on whether to launch it.
+""That will depend on airline orders,"" he said in a brief interview DATE.
+Specifications being circulated within the industry call for the PRODUCT to hold CARDINAL passengers in a typical CARDINAL-class configuration with a range of QUANTITY (QUANTITY), compared with CARDINAL passengers and QUANTITY (QUANTITY) for the current-generation PRODUCT.
+The long-range PRODUCT would hold CARDINAL passengers in CARDINAL classes and have a range of QUANTITY (QUANTITY).
+Analysts say the PRODUCT stretch is essential for ORG to continue dominating the lucrative top end of the market -- which it has had to itself since the introduction of the CARDINAL-engine jumbo jet in DATE, which nearly bankrupted the company.
+Now ORG's own new CARDINAL twin-engine jet is replacing older 747s, and possible new versions of jets from rivals ORG and ORG could threaten the lower end of the jumbo market.
+""They really do need to be able to move up to again have a position of complete monopoly for the aircraft as they have had for DATE,"" said analyst PERSON of ORG.
+Meanwhile ORG has signaled that it intends to go ahead with plans for its own all-new CARDINAL-seat plane, dubbed the CARDINAL, although analysts question whether the market for jumbo jets is big enough for CARDINAL manufacturers.
+""From an economic point of view, I don't think there's enough demand to justify the $MONEY (billion) to MONEY cost"" of an all-new jet, said PERSON of ORG.
+He and other analysts said they expect air travel in the fast-growing LOC region to follow the LOC in migrating to pairs of smaller cities rather than routes between world capitals that require the largest jets.
+The trend toward such more thinly traveled routes was among the reasons cited by ORG when it shelved a project to jointly develop with ORG a double-decker airliner that would hold up to CARDINAL passengers.
+But ORG's ORG predicted LOC's ORG, which is transforming itself from a consortium into a single company, would go ahead with its own jumbo jet for commercial delivery in DATE, DATE after ORG's new PRODUCT models.
+""They're not going to leave ORG alone at the upper end,"" he said.
+ORG estimated that ORG's PRODUCT revision, which would include a new wing, new engines and possible new cockpit electronics, would cost from MONEY to develop.
+Rolls-Royce Plc has said it plans to offer a variant of its Trent turbofan engine to power the new ORG craft, while rivals ORG and ORG ORGamp; ORG unit have formed a joint venture to develop an alternative power plant.",1
+"ORG announcement on DATE that it expected to fall short of analysts' DATE earnings estimates for what it believes are temporary factors includes CARDINAL element -- a continued modest decline in commercial loans outstanding -- that could be a more lasting concern, analysts said.
+The GPE-based bank holding company, which has MONEY in assets, said it expects DATE earnings of MONEY a share excluding any CARDINAL-time gains, $MONEY short of the consensus and unchanged from DATE.  
+PERSON is in the midst of a program to trim costs and enhance revenues and said factors including the implementation of that program and assimilation of recent acquisitions would hurt earnings. But the bank also said continued declines in its commercial loans outstanding would also hinder earnings, and was a temporary factor.
+""I think while that sounds plausible, it also remains to be proven,"" said PERSON, banking analyst at FAC. Crabtree had forecast earnings of $MONEY a share for DATE.  
+While expenses from the restructuring and acquisitions should eventually be eliminated, analysts were not as sure that the loss of loans would be reversed.
+""The question going forward, and that's an unanswerable question, is the long-term impact on the revenue side,"" said PERSON, banking analyst at ORG.
+Firstar investor relations spokesman PERSON said the decline in loans outstanding is due mostly to the focus on the restructuring during DATE.  
+PERSON also said credit card charge-offs will remain higher than the company's historic levels in DATE, though they will be in line with the industry overall.
+""It's something they've indicated in the past,"" ORG said, adding that higher charge-offs were already built into his previous $MONEY a share estimate on DATE earnings and outperform rating on the stock.
+In the CARDINAL-Q filing with the ORG for DATE, ORG said it expected credit card charge-offs to rise to PERCENT in DATE, before declining to PERCENT. Charge-offs were PERCENT in DATE.
+If ORG meets its $MONEY a share estimate for DATE earnings would be $MONEY a share, compared to $MONEY a share DATE.
+ORG shares fell CARDINAL to CARDINAL DATE amid a downturn in banking stocks.
+((--Chicago newsdesk CARDINAL DATE))","ORG is likely to spend DATE with its bankers trying to work out arrangments to solve its liquity crisis, the failure of which could force the company to file for bankrupcty protection, analysts and attorney's said.
+The Lake Forest, GPE-based auto finance company said DATE it could not raise new commercial paper to repay maturing debt and could not pay MONEY in commercial paper due DATE.
+A finance company like ORG makes money on the difference, or spread, between what it pays to borrow money and the higher rates it charges its customers. A finance company without a source of funds is like a retailer without a source of merchandise, analysts noted.
+""If you can't fund, you're out of business,"" CARDINAL equity analyst that follows the company said, requesting anonymity.
+Some rating agencies, including ORGamp; ORG, lowered ORG's commercial paper to a default rating DATE.
+""They're very close to some reorganization, bankruptcy filing, probably a voluntary reorganization,"" said PERSON, analyst at ORGamp; ORG
+He and other analysts noted the company has another MONEY in commercial paper due DATE, DATE.
+A ORG  spokesman did not return repeated calls seeking comment on the company's financing DATE TIME.
+Aside from the company's current inability to sell debt, ORG is also facing a host of shareholder lawsuits, filed after the company said it had to restate its net income over DATE by a total of MONEY because of accounting irregularities.
+Lawsuits do not become a financial liability for the company unless there is a judgment in favor of the shareholders. However, the company's admission of misstatements makes it easier for the sharheolders to prove their case, leaving only the questions of who would have to pay how much, CARDINAL securities lawyer said.
+""Securities laws are very, very simple,"" said PERSON, a partner with GPE-based lawfirm ORGamp; ORG ""If there is an ommission or misstatement of a material fact... there's liabiltiy.""
+Also, the company's market capitalization plunged by MONEY DATE, based on the CARDINAL point fall of ORG's shares and the CARDINAL shares the company said it had outstanding DATE. That reduces the equity cushion the company has available to show its creditors, PERSON said.
+But analysts also said the company had MONEY in loans receivable on its books at DATE -- an asset to show creditors.
+""No one has questioned the validity of the amount of receivables they have on their books or the quality of those receivables,"" Kmiotek said.
+Also, ORG has generally been well regarded in the sub-prime credit quality loan business, which could help it negotiate with its banks and continue as a going concern, said analysts and lawyers familiar with the company.
+ORG said in a statement it is in discussions with its lenders to satisfy working capital needs, but that it could not predict the outcome of those discussions.
+((GPE newsdesk CARDINAL DATE))",1
+"GPE stocks ended sharply lower on DATE, pulled down by investor profit-taking and a sell-off in the heavily weighted gold issues.
+ORG key CARDINAL Composite Index lost CARDINAL points to end at CARDINAL points, after nearly touching the CARDINAL-point level DATE.
+PERSON, president of ORGamp; ORG, said some profit-taking was justified after the CARDINAL Index's bold move upward DATE.
+Investors sold off some holdings to reap profits since the closely-watched CARDINAL Index gained PERCENT since DATE, ORG said.
+Trading was heavy, with CARDINAL shares turned over worth MONEY (MONEY).
+An equities trader agreed. ""We could be in for a corrective phase here.""
+Other analysts have said a pull-back was possible.
+Weak gold bullion prices exacerbated the situation, dragging GPE's gold stocks down. GPE gold prices dropped to their lowest level in DATE after heavy selling forced it through a technical support level of US$MONEY an ounce to MONEYMONEY.
+Banks stocks, which also enjoyed recent gains, suffered from profit-taking, the trader said.
+CARDINAL of GPE's CARDINAL sub-indices rose: conglomerates, oils and pipelines.
+The gold sector lost PERCENT DATE, followed lower by banks, transports and consumer products.
+Declining stocks raced ahead of declining ones CARDINAL to CARDINAL. Another CARDINAL traded flat.
+Among the hot stocks, gold prospector PERSON was in the spotlight again after DATE of turbulent activity. Shares rose MONEYMONEY on CARDINAL shares as investors eyed a DATE deadline for the settlement of an ownership dispute over a huge NORP gold discovery.
+ORG lost MONEYMONEY in heavy turnover.
+ORG, the world's ORDINAL largest gold producer, lost C$MONEY to hit C$MONEY on DATE.","GPE's foreign currency B shares in both GPE and GPE surged on DATE as investors piled in money on the back of rumours the government was planning measures to support the markets, brokers said.
+GPE's B share index soared PERCENT to CARDINAL points, while the GPE index was up PERCENT to CARDINAL in heavy trade.
+""There have been widespread talk that regulators are meeting somewhere discussing ways to turn around the long bearishness of the GPE dollar-denominated stock market,"" a broker at ORG in GPE said.
+""Such rumours triggered a steady inflow of fresh money,"" he added.
+In GPE, brokers said the sharp rise was a reflection of the activity in the GPE market with overseas investors buying selected stocks with relatively good prospects.
+""B shares prices had become too cheap to drop any further, with the domestic economic situation improving,"" CARDINAL broker said. ""And recent rises in GPE B shares also provided a chance for GPE B shares to follow.""
+In GPE, brokers and analysts said the recent surges were linked to a report in the GPE-based ORG DATE that ORG has been concerned about the market's prolonged bearishness.
+The newspaper quoted the ORG's chairman PERSON as saying at an international business forum in GPE that the poor performance of the country's B markets had negatively affected GPE's reform and open policy.
+The buying is being led by NORP domestic institutional investors, with increasing amounts of money from overseas investors, said brokers.
+""There is also money coming from NORP individual investors, but the amount is imposssible to calculate because it's illegal,"" said CARDINAL analyst.
+GPE's B shares are supposed to be for foreign investors only, but most of the trading is now done by domestic investors through a variety of means.
+Stock analysts were at a loss to come up with suggestions as to what market-boosting measures may be implemented, assuming the rumours of an impending announcement from GPE are correct.
+""Beyond quietly allowing local NORP investors to come back into the market, I can't think what they could do,"" said CARDINAL analyst. ""The problem has always been that the companies listed on the B share market are not performing well enough.""
+Another analyst said that the B share market will face a correction over the short term, given the fast pace of its ascent and that its medium-term trend should be decided by whether regulators announced stimulative policies.
+""The rumours are responsible for the current rises but market fundamentals have changed little,"" said a GPE broker. ""The upward trend can only be established after concrete governmental measures are announced. Otherwise, it will shortly be reversed.""",0
+"ORG will split from conglomerate PERSON on DATE of the most efficient players in its sector, but while the new chief talks of export-led growth, the outlook is clouded by the threat of litigation against tobacco firms.
+ORG is GPE's ORDINAL biggest tobacco firm after ORG and its brands include ORG, PERSON and Superkings cigarettes as well as GPE and ORG cigars.
+It is CARDINAL of CARDINAL arms of the mighty ORG conglomerate being spun off into separate floated companies to unlock value.
+In DATE since ORG took over ORG, it has slashed costs, cut its brands to CARDINAL from CARDINAL and raised productivity by PERCENT. DATE profits were MONEY on CARDINAL of sales.
+But analysts fear that despite ORG's impressive track record, marking it as the comeback kid of the tobbaco industry, its shares could face a rough ride once listed in GPE.
+DATE saw tobacco stocks hit by a backlash in GPE, with fresh litigation plus tough new curbs from GPE President PERSON to regulate the industry.
+So far, ORG has borne the brunt. But some analysts believe it is only a matter of time before the GPE scenario widens its impact and is repeated across the LOC.
+""If it happens in the GPE it's subsequently followed in other countries,"" said PERSON, analyst at ORG.
+""Imperial could have been a ripe international takeover candidate. But the litigation threat means a group buying a tobacco company would have a tough time selling the idea to shareholders now,"" he said.
+UBS analysts agree that the threat of legal action is enough to dampen the company's outlook.
+But they warn of another possible dampener on the stock when ORG starts trading - its heavy reliance on GPE, largely seen as a mature market. GPE accounts for PERCENT of profits, say analysts.
+ORG has already committed itself to overseas expansion, but there are fears that it will have a tough time muscling in on the GPE giants which have already made inroads into the markets of DATE - GPE, GPE and LOC.
+""We see investor concerns on litigation risk combined with the uncertain outlook in the key GPE market as implying a PERCENT ORG (price earnings) discount to the GPE average."" This assumes a prospective ORG of CARDINAL times, ORG said in a note.
+It has given ORG a total break-up value of MONEY, in a market range of MONEY per share. ORG shares were down MONEY at CARDINAL by DATE GMT DATE.
+UBS specifically values the ORG constituent at MONEY per share or MONEY (MONEY).
+However, another investment analyst who declined to be named, said he was more upbeat on ORG's prospects.
+""It's a clean business. It could become a takeover target and it's also very cash generative,"" he said.
+He values ORG at MONEY in a total ORG break-up valuation of MONEY per share.
+There is some upside to the ORG story. Apart from being viewed as a highly efficient player and being the ORDINAL biggest GPE tobacco company with PERCENT of the market, it is also poised to try and tap the vast emerging markets.
+PERSON (corrects from PERSON), ORG's chief executive who joined the company straight from university, told the GPE-based ORG newspaper DATE that he believed the group would continue to build up exports to LOC and LOC.
+""Worldwide this industry is buoyant,"" he said.
+ORG has said in earlier mission statements that it will expand abroad through ""organic growth and acquisition.""
+But with MONEY in debt as part of its ORG inheritance, industry watchers wonder just how it will finance its much needed expansion. ($MONEY Pound)","GPE stocks ended softer on DATE, snapping a recent winning streak despite strength in the gold and real estate sectors.
+ORG key CARDINAL Composite Index slipped by CARDINAL points to reach CARDINAL points, after adding PERCENT DATE.
+""After DATE's remarkable action, it's time for a pause,"" said ORG analyst PERSON in a report.
+""The golds have ignited on the quick rise in bullion prices that came TIME,"" Best said.
+COMEX DATE gold ended up US$MONEY at US$MONEY an ounce, after hitting a DATE intraday high at US$MONEY. The yellow metal soared briefly after comments by a NORP official which indicated GPE will no longer tolerate a weak yen.
+This pushed the GPE dollar lower while investors rushed to sell the currency and buy gold, but the dollar recovered after the GPE government had a strong DATE ORG bond auction, said PERSON trader PERSON.
+Toronto trading was brisk at CARDINAL shares worth MONEY (MONEY). Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones CARDINAL to CARDINAL and CARDINAL traded flat.
+CARDINAL of GPE's CARDINAL sub-indices eased, led by pipeline stocks, banks and consumer products. ORG, conglomerates and real estate issues rolled higher.
+""The lower interest rates are really stimulating the whole real estate situation,"" PERSON said.
+Among hot stocks were the banks, which sank after a DATE's worth of gains. ORG topped GPE's most active stocks, falling MONEYMONEY on CARDINAL shares.
+""Our favourite group, the banks, which got a pasting DATE, likely will go up DATE,"" PERSON said.
+Telecommunications firm ORG lost C$MONEY to reach C$MONEY in heavy trading. It said on DATE that it agreed to buy the assets of a GPE-based software firm, ORG, for an undisclosed sum.
+Funeral homes operator ORG slipped C$MONEY to C$MONEY in light dealings. The closely watched firm, which has made headlines for its battle against hostile bidder ORG International, said it expects to make acquisitions worth MONEY DATE.",0
+"GPE's ORG said on DATE it was keeping an open mind about opportunities to restructure its operations after news reports that the group is continuing its search for a partner for its financial services businesses.
+Tobacco and financial services company ORG, however, refused to comment directly on reports that talks with another company -- said to be insurance group ORG -- had foundered. ORG was similarly tight-lipped, declining to confirm or deny the rumours.
+Bolstered by the deal talk, ORG shares pushed CARDINAL higher to CARDINAL-1/2p on DATE, but a spokesman for the company said its position had not changed.
+""We were widely reported as having ruled out a demerger at DATE (results) and now we're reported to be ruling it in. The true position is that we have an open mind.""
+Pressure on ORG, whose operations include ORG, Allied GPE and GPE insurance unit ORG, to enhance shareholder value after a disappointing share price performance over DATE is seen as behind the move.
+The exposure of ORG's tobacco business to litigation in GPE has proved a particular drag on the share, reviving talk about a possible separation of the financial services business.
+Add to this the potential for cost-cutting and the perceived need for ORG to bolster management in its financial services arm and the attractions of a merger are clear.
+GPE's biggest insurer ORGamp; GPE is currently reaping the rewards of just such a move with the group forecasting DATE savings of MONEY (MONEY) by DATE after the merger of GPE and Sun back in DATE.
+A lack of any distinct competitive advantage and a number of strategic questionmarks at ORG's ORG and Allied GPE operations are compounding the desire to find a partner and to follow ORG in the achieving critical mass in the highly competitive domestic market, industry analysts said.
+""The idea of a demerger has been doing the rounds for ages and ORG must be looking at the options. There is value trying to get out but I don't think a deal is imminent and I don't think it would be easy,"" said CARDINAL analyst.
+Rates are under pressure, the market is in a downturn and pressures from new entrants are severe but the prospect of some sort of a deal before too long in the sector has boosted share prices in DATE, traders said.
+The industry itself is no stranger to such moves with the drive to create economies of scale and cut costs in fragmented markets producing a number of big insurance deals in DATE -- in the GPE, GPE and the GPE.
+""There probably will be more agreed mergers but the big debate is whether they're worthwhile or not; the jury's still out on that,"" said CARDINAL analyst who preferred not to be named.
+""There's no doubt that you can achieve reductions in costs pretty rapidly. The question is are they sustainable. In the GPE, GPE and NORP markets over DATE, for example, there hasn't been much correlation between efficiency, profitability and size in the insurance industry.""
+Hostile bids in the industry are likely to remain a rarity, however, with regulatory barriers, especially in the GPE, and a reluctance on the part of companies to take the hit from the required goodwill write-off.
+""Most of the recent merger activity in the industry has been between companies that are large in their own domestic market but perceive themselves to have weaknesses that can be solved by cost-cutting, rationalisation and getting a bit more market share in their key areas,"" said CARDINAL of the analysts.
+-- GPE newsroom +44 CARDINAL 7721  
+($MONEY Pound)","NORP insurer ORGamp; General (L&G) on DATE reported a double digit rise in profits for DATE and gave an upbeat assessment of the outlook for the group.
+But the company ruled out acquisitions in the life and pensions business and said that despite stiff competition, rising sales and profits would continue to underpin strong dividend growth in the future.
+""Our strategy is not dependent on mergers and acquisitions. We don't want our efforts diverted by someone else's problems,"" said L&G chief executive PERSON.
+The in-line results and prospects for dividend growth helped L&G shares to a new all-time high of MONEY. By TIME the shares were trading at MONEY, a rise of MONEY on DATE.
+Analysts said there were few surprises in the figures, though the dividend was slightly ahead of forecast.
+The trebling of the value of new business, was singled out as particularly positive.
+""There were exceptional factors in there but nevertheless they've done a tremendous job in taking the new business value up from CARDINAL (MONEY) to MONEY. That was the most striking piece of good news,"" commented CARDINAL analyst.
+Despite a ""very competitive"" trading environment, which he said was likely to continue, PERSON expressed satisfaction at the DATE's performance.
+Sales growth continued to be based on competitive pricing and product innovation but reductions in profitability produced by cutting prices were being offset by increases in business volume, he said.
+""There's a lot of market share about if you do this business sensibly and we do appear to be in a virtuous circle. We're winning additional sales growth, getting lower unit costs as a result, good growth in embedded value of new business and a good increase in shareholder value,"" he told ORG.
+More competitive products, supported by lower administartion costs, cost effective sales distribution and good investment returns, result in higher sales, greater customer loyalty and increased profit, said PERSON.
+Despite a PERCENT jump in new business in DATE, L&G still had PERCENT market share and the focus going foward would continue to be on growing volume, said PERSON.
+But the sharp increases in NORP bulk annuity business in DATE which saw single new premium business rise to CARDINAL times DATE levels, is unlikely to be replicated in DATE.
+Operating profits for DATE were up PERCENT to MONEY and the dividend was raised PERCENT to MONEY per share.
+Profits from life and pensions businesses rose PERCENT to MONEY while general insurance profits rose to MONEY from MONEY DATE.
+The sale of the company's commercial lines business resulted in a pre-tax exceptional profit of MONEY.
+The investment maangement arm had DATE in winning new business and with MONEY under management, a PERCENT increase on DATE, the group is now one of GPE's largest fund managers.
+Like rival insurers the group had seen some firming in motor rates but this was slow and very selective.
+""Household is more dificult. I think some people are seeing rate reductions and some are getting rate increases. PERSON is becoming more selective on underwriting and pricing of risk -- the shape of pricing is changing,"" said PERSON.
+($ = MONEY)",1
+"GPE's Western oil joint ventures are finding it increasingly difficult to export their output in the amounts needed to stay profitable as GPE seeks to give domestic producers more pipeline space.
+Joint ventures (JVs) produce only a trickle of GPE's crude oil -- but they need to export most, if not all, of their output to make money on their investments.
+But NORP energy officials, who once courted Western oil majors and independents with promises of tax breaks and priority access to crowded pipelines, are rethinking the terms on which they want foreign oil firms to work in GPE.
+""The pipelines are fairly close to capacity, so any increase (in exports) will be at somebody's expense, and that will be the JVs,"" said PERSON of the Centre for Global Energy Studies in GPE in a recent interview.
+GPE's tightening of access to its export pipelines is a barometer of how willing GPE will be in DATE to let big-ticket foreign investors with planned, multi-billion dollar production-sharing contracts export the volumes they need.
+Most of those projects will require new pipelines -- but in the initial stages, they will probably use existing pipelines.
+""It's becoming more and more difficult,"" said PERSON, GPE-based representative for the ORG joint venture, whose foreign partner is ORG of GPE unit ORG
+""The big companies, like LUKoil, can send out as much as they want. Nobody cares about a little joint venture.""
+CARDINAL joint ventures out of the CARDINAL so producing in GPE and exporting have the right to export PERCENT of their output until DATE. Others enjoy tax breaks.
+Most ventures in theory have priority access.
+But in practice, they are often elbowed aside DATE to month depending on world oil prices, the amount domestic producers want to export and government export programmes.
+When asked about priority access for the ventures, a LOC official dealing with exports, who declined to be identified, said:
+""We don't distinguish between oil produced by our companies and oil produced by joint ventures.""
+Transneft, the state oil pipeline monopoly, works with so-called designated coordinators -- GPE's large producers, who are often interested in increasing their own exports -- to allocate pipeline space.
+""Access to GPE pipelines is based on personal relationships with the NORP people,"" said analyst PERSON of T Hoare & Co in GPE in a recent interview.
+""NORP producers are going to increase the pressure to be given more pipeline capacity -- this will certainly be a problem in the future.""
+Joint ventures accounted for PERCENT of total NORP output DATE, or QUANTITY per day (bpd), according to ORG figures, up from PERCENT in DATE. But they account for PERCENT of GPE's CARDINAL bpd exports.
+""Priority access will hardly be continued DATE, which will affect the operations of this joint venture very negatively,"" said PERSON, marketing specialist at ORG, whose NORP partner is ORG and which exports PERCENT of its CARDINAL bpd output.
+ORG officials, who now make policy as well as implementing it, said in DATE that some prominent ventures could be liable for MONEY in taxes and fines for so-called ""excess"" exports outside their exemptions.
+""The issue is not necessarily the length of the tax exemption, it's the intent behind it,"" said CARDINAL top Western oil executive who asked not to be named.","ORG is likely to brush off NORP telecom giant ORG and ORG statement that it hopes to move into the global market independently, analysts said on DATE.
+BT, along with most of its global telecoms rivals, has long sought to link up with ORG and gain a foothold in the lucrative NORP markets. The company's top bosses, who regularly travel to GPE, are meeting ORG executives DATE, ORG confirmed.
+ORG, which DATE won regulatory approval to offer international services as part of a move to restructure the company, said DATE that it hoped to pursue an independent approach to gain customers in the global market -- rather than seek tie-ups with interational rivals.
+However, analysts said ORG's views, published in a newspaper interview, were more likely to be a negotiating ploy.
+""I suspect the interpretation is that this is an entirely rational approach by ORG to indicate that it can, if necessary, go alone,"" said PERSON, telecoms analyst at ORG.
+""Obviously that does improve its negotiating position with regard to potential partners as well,"" he added.
+BT confirmed that chairman Sir PERSON, who is in GPE with NORP Prime Minister PERSON as part of a tour to boost NORP trade, will travel on to GPE on DATE to meet ORG executives.
+Sir PERSON, ORG's chief executive, will also meet ORG and other organisations in GPE at DATE. But the company said these visits had long been scheduled and were not a knee-jerk reaction to ORG's independence stance.
+""This is something that has been planned for a long time and yes, they will be meeting people from ORG and indeed other organisations in GPE...as you would expect. It is an important area,"" a ORG spokesman said.
+BT has an office in GPE and DATE appointed its ORDINAL regional director in GPE in a move to highlight the importance of the area. It already has a minor link with one of ORG's units, ORG, which distributes its ORG services.
+But ORG also reiterated that while ORG, the world's biggest telecoms company, would be a good partner, there were others it could talk to.
+BT has small stakes in mobile telephone operations in GPE.
+Most global telecoms groups, for whom the key to success in the increasingly competitive market is global reach, are keen to move into LOC -- an area where few are well represented.
+""I think that every major telecommunications grouping is harbouring hopes of linking up with GPE. Clearly ORG is the largest telecom company in the world and provides local access to one of the most impenetrable markets in the world as well,"" ORG said.
+GPE DATE announced a MONEY merger with GPE's ORG in a move partly to increase its clout and make it more attractive to potential NORP partners.",0
+"PERSON, chief executive of drinks and food company FAC, said the company should be able to return cash to shareholders in DATE when its debt will be MONEY lighter.
+""By DATE our debt should be down in the low to middle two billion (stg) area and interest cover will be CARDINAL times or thereabouts. But we cannot afford buybacks at the moment. They depend entirely on our ability to sweat our assets and our ability to throw off enough cash in DATE.""  
+Market forecasts for DATE pre-tax profits centre on a range of MONEY stg for DATE with many brokers cutting their estimates as sterling started its run up against the dollar in May. Estimates for ORG's DATE pretax profits are bunched around the 980 million stg mark.
+""We are really being hit by the dollar at the moment. At a rate of CARDINAL it will hit us by QUANTITY a year, assuming this rate continues into DATE,"" McGrath said.
+The dollar stood at CARDINAL against the pound on DATE before climbing to its CARDINAL level DATE.
+GPE, ORG's GPE foods business and ORG generate PERCENT of group earnings in dollars.
+At ORG's spirits arm International Distillers and Vitners price rises have ""stuck very well, probably better than they have done in DATE. PERSON are also up and we have had DATE in the GPE""
+""I think what will surprise the competition will be our performance in LOC,"" he said.
+-- GPE PRODUCT +44 CARDINAL 7717","Sir PERSON, chairman of brewer-to-leisure group PERSON, said the company's proposed acquisition of brewer ORG would make GPE's beer market more competitive.
+""Obviously it would make the market more competitive. We would be looking to lower our cost base which would give us more money to invest in innovation and more money to invest in improving our products,"" said PERSON in an interview.
+The acquisition is being studied by ORG on competition grounds. Their decision is expected in DATE.",1
+"GPE's ORG said on DATE that CARDINAL jobs are to go in a restructuring of the insurance group's area and branch network.
+The job losses follow the QUANTITY (MONEY) acquisition of ORGamp; ORG's commercial insurance operations in DATE and are the latest in a series of industry moves to cut costs.
+ORG said the restructuring is intended to enhance the level of service and to benefit from the opportunities for economies of scale flowing from the ORGamp; General acquisition.
+But the job losses were attacked on DATE as ""arbitrary"" by ORG (PERSON) who accused ORG of trying to please industry analysts and the stock market.
+The ORG announcement comes at the end of an unsettling year for insurance company employees with consolidation within the industry leading to sharp cutbacks in staff levels as businesses look to reduce their cost base.
+After the merger of ORG and Sun Alliance in DATE, it was announced that CARDINAL jobs would be cut across the group, the majority in the GPE where both had head offices. The merger of ORG in DATE will lead to the shedding of CARDINAL staff over DATE.
+The drive for cost savings, economies of scale and critical mass in an increasingly competitive market are widely expected to fuel further consolidation in the industry.
+GPE's ORG industries is rumoured to be looking for a partner for its financial services arm which includes ORG and Allied Dunbar after press reports that talks with ORG have foundered.
+ORG has also been linked with General Accident and ORG while ORGamp; General and ORG have both been the subjects of bid speculation.
+""Markets are remaining very competitive and companies are looking for ways to gain an edge,"" said CARDINAL industry analyst. ""Companies do take the opportunity to tackle their cost base with consolidation.""
+The insurance industry which is estimated to employ CARDINAL staff directly shed CARDINAL staff DATE.
+Including brokers and the self-employed the industry provides work for CARDINAL, CARDINAL of whose jobs could be at risk over DATE according to PERSON.
+Alongside the announcement of the closure of offices in GPE, GPE, GPE, GPE, GPE, PERSON and ORG where there are currently both ORG and former ORGamp; General offices, ORG said offices in CARDINAL other locations would also shut. These include ORG, Ealing, west GPE, PERSON, PERSON, Liverpool and Maidstone, Kent.
+The restructuring is expected to be completed by DATE. -- GPE PRODUCT +44 CARDINAL 7721 ($ = CARDINAL NORP Pound)","Britons wishing to take out new life insurance policies will have to reveal the results of genetic tests under a new industry policy announced by ORG (ORG) on DATE.
+But life insurers will not ask people to take genetic tests when applying for life insurance under the scheme, which will run for DATE.
+The policy statement is backed by all CARDINAL ORG member companies and is a response to the rapid developments in the area of genetics in DATE.
+While still in its infancy, there is the possibility that new genetic tests will soon be developed which will be able to predict the chances of someone contracting certain diseases or their life expectancy.
+Many GPE companies already require applicants for insurance to undergo genetic testing. At present, PERSON are asked to give results of tests they have undergone but are not asked to take tests to qualify for insurance.
+Doctors can already diagnose the most common single gene defects such as muscular dystrophy and cystic fibrosis and screen for an individual's susceptibility to certain cancers.
+Experts say it will soon be possible to predict the risk of more common disorders such as diabetes or rheumatoid athritis.
+DATE's announcement is likely to raise fears that an underclass may be created of people unable to insure themselves because of their genetic make-up.
+But a spokesman for the ORG dismissed this possibility and said if new tests became available they were likely to benefit people, enabling them to adjust their lifestyles to the risks they run of heart and other diseases.
+The ORG said insurance companies did not wish to be perceived as delaying the development of genetic science and said the statement represented a ""very carefully considered and responsible contribution"" to the challenges presented by genetic developments.
+""It is important that insurance companies continue to see the results of genetic tests so they can monitor developments and gauge any financial impact on their company,"" it said.
+Actuaries noted the long-awaited statement of policy by the ORG, saying they were concerned the debate on health insurance and genetic testing had barely started.
+A statement from actuaries' professional organisations noted that GPE's ORG accepted good or bad risks without extra charge.
+""The profession does not favour legislation on the use of genetic tests as it feels that no case has yet been made for such severe action nor has society discussed how commonplace such tests will be in future medicine,"" it said.
+Genetic tests detrimental to applicants for life insurance up to a total of MONEY ($MONEY) will be ignored where the insurance is linked to a new mortgage under the new policy.
+For new applications for other life insurance policies, individual companies will decide whether or not they wish to take account of the results of genetic tests previously taken.
+Insurers are considering collating information where genetic test results are given to help with future policy development.
+The policy will be fully reviewed in DATE to take account of future developments in genetics ($ = MONEY)",1
+"The chairman of ORG on DATE tried to placate NORP critics of a planned acquisition of ORG with repeated job and investment promises and said a counter-bid was ""not realistic""
+But Bae Soon-hoon declined to discuss financial details of the proposed takeover until the government's decision to sell the world's ORDINAL-biggest television maker to the NORP company is final. Both ORG and ORG still have to approve the deal.
+The NORP government on DATE announced it had selected ORG over Alcatel Alsthom to buy state-owned ORG for one franc after an MONEY capital injection.
+Lagardere plans to merge its ORG unit with defence electronics group ORG while selling ORG (ORG) to ORG, also for one franc.
+Bae said he would make ORG, reported to have made a MONEY first half loss and to have debts of MONEY, ""very profitable and prosperous.""
+He confirmed a vow to create CARDINAL NORP jobs at ORG in DATE, saying NORP labour conditions were competitive.
+Bae said that the partnership between ORG and ORG would allow a MONEY world-wide investment plan DATE, creating CARDINAL jobs in final assembly and CARDINAL jobs in component production.
+He declined to indicate how much of ORG debt ORG would assume but said he expected some of the state capital injection to go to TMM.
+""The ORG group will keep a significant part of the ORG debts and has the means to do so,"" said PERSON, managing director of ORG's NORP financial advisers ORG's.
+The ORG/Thomson combination would be the world's biggest maker of television, video recorders and cathode ray tubes.
+ORG said it would keep the ORG identity and NORP headquarters and would continue research and development at GPE, GPE. It said all the group's products would be sold under ORG brand names in LOC and the GPE
+The digital television know-how of ORG will be put in a special joint venture with Lagardere. Bae said the joint-venture would be CARDINAL owned while PERSON said on DATE that his group would have a PERCENT majority.
+The government decision to sell TMM indirectly for MONEY to ORG has attracted fierce criticism. The leader of ORG, PERSON, said on DATE he was ""shocked"" by the ORG privatisation.
+PERSON, former president of ORG, said DATE, ""I would have preferred to maintain a NORP pole in consumer electronics.""
+Some Thomson labour unions also attacked the sale of ""NORP technology"" to a NORP company.
+NORP financial newspaper ORG on DATE suggested a rival NORP bid was being prepared and newspaper ORG on DATE said PERSON, who fell out of the race earlier on, was preparing such a bid. Sagem denied planning a bod.
+""I saw the newspaper article. I thought it was a joke,"" Bae said. ""We have been working with the government for DATE and have been respecting the rules of the procedure. Unless the government changes the procedure, nobody can make a proposal at the present time,"" he said.","NORP computer maker ORG now has the freedom to deal with any other computer group in LOC following the sale of PERCENT of its shares held by the government.
+PERSON, managing director of ORG, told ORG in a telephone interview that the company still planned to be part of a restructuring of the NORP computer industry.
+""With the support of our private shareholders, we can do that either by a market operation, by a merger or acquisition or by both,"" he said.  
+""Rather than to wait for when the opportunity presented itself before doing anything, the shareholders decided to put us in a position so that we can act as a private company when the time is ripe.""
+Breton said others involved in the restructuring of the NORP computer industry included GPE's ORG of the GPE and ORG of GPE.
+""There are also the NORP units of GPE companies that may be interested in participating in the restructuring,"" he added.  
+PERSON, the former McKinsey consultant who became chairman in DATE, DATE said PERSON wanted the state to sell PERCENT to a ORDINAL industrial partner, preferably NORP, and to financial investors.
+Bull returned to profit in DATE after posting combined losses of MONEY since DATE.
+The NORP government has said it plans to privatise PERSON before DATE.
+Breton said the state share sale would take place after a capital increase amounting to ""MONEY.""  
+The state will subscribe to its portion of the capital increase, but resell its shares to private investors.
+ORG of the GPE, ORG of GPE and ORG, which each have a PERCENT stake, are expected to subscribe to their part.
+""They are on our strategic commission. They come here every three months for DATE. I think I can say that we have the support of our shareholders,"" ORG said.
+ORG, which has PERCENT, is not expected to join in the capital increase. It has passed up CARDINAL previous opportunities.  
+GPE's ORG Printing, with PERCENT, has been invited to join the capital increase.
+Bull in DATE effectively withdrew from the personal computer market by merging its ORG division with ORG
+ORG said the company was standing by its profit forecast of higher profits in DATE compared with a CARDINAL profit in DATE, but he declined to confirm the group was aiming for CARDINAL.
+""We keep our forecast, we are on line to deliver on our promise,"" ORG said.
+-- GPE newsroom +33 CARDINAL DATE",1
+"GPE hailed on DATE its war on bourgeois decadence as the top news event of DATE along with missile tests off GPE, but ignored improved ties with GPE and the jailing of a CARDINAL dissidents.
+The line-up of the top CARDINAL news events in GPE in DATE as selected by senior editors of the major ORG-linked newspapers closely reflected the party line on news -- or propaganda.
+The list issued by the ORG differed sharply from events in GPE that have focused international eyes on the world's most populous country in DATE.
+Heading the list selected by CARDINAL GPE editors was the DATE plenum of GPE's ruling ORG in DATE that adopted a CARDINAL-word document exhorting GPE's CARDINAL people to adhere to socialist ethics and abhor bourgeois NORP liberalism.
+On DATE, it was unclear how far socialist values extended, but ORG appeared to be exempt as he smiled and waved from CARDINAL of GPE and GPE department stores.
+Politics, not only news value, may have coloured the views of many of the editors, who would have remembered that the plenum was trumpeted as one of the major achievements of ORG chief, state President and army boss PERSON -- anointed heir to paramount leader PERSON.
+Newspaper editors elsewhere in the world would probably have chosen GPE's campaign to intimidate GPE in the run-up the island's ORDINAL popular elections of a NORP president on NORP soil as the top story of DATE.
+However, for NORP editors the decision to conduct missile tests and live-fire war games in waters near the island DATE, and which sent GPE aircraft carriers steaming into neighbouring seas, ranked CARDINAL in their top CARDINAL.
+The news item in ORDINAL place related to GPE's resumption of sovereignty over the NORP colony of GPE in DATE, or Premier PERSON decision to sign off on the appointment of shipping tycoon PERSON as GPE ORDINAL post-colonial chief executive.
+Other editors might have focused less on the role of a single NORP leader in GPE's elevation and more on his selection by a GPE-sponsored committee of his peers.
+CARDINAL of the top CARDINAL NORP news stories were linked to economic achievements and one to sports -- EVENT in which GPE ranked ORDINAL overall in the medals' tally. Just CARDINAL involved international affairs.
+President PERSON's visit to FAC (ORG) forum in the GPE DATE edged into ORDINAL place.
+PERSON's ORG meeting with GPE President PERSON set the seal on a warming of frosty NORP ties and resulted in a decision on an exchange of the ORDINAL presidential state visits in DATE. But for GPE's news commissars, that merited only a brief aside.
+""NORP President PERSON... met with leaders of other ORG members, including GPE President PERSON,"" ORG said.
+GPE's renewed crackdown on dissent, such as its decision to sentence PERSON, a former leader of the DATE student demonstrations for more democracy, to DATE in jail for conspiring to subvert the government, went unmentioned.","Officials in a central NORP region have issued an action plan to stamp out worship by the underground NORP church loyal to GPE, a U.S.-based church group said on DATE.
+ORG document issued by officials of GPE in central GPE warns against infiltration by overseas religious forces and threats to political stability, said ORG, which obtained a copy of the document.
+The CARDINAL-point plan, titled ORG, spells out action to be taken from DATE to wipe out underground congregations.
+Measures include laying good public relations, registering and setting up a file for each religious believer for local and transient NORP, forcing each undergound NORP to write a letter denying their faith and to join the official church.
+The document blames the growing number of illegal religious believers on ""the intensified infiltration of overseas religious enemy and opposition forces, and due to the influence of the illegal activities of the undergound religious force"".
+Underground believers ""used religion to commit criminal activities, seriously disturbing the social order and affecting political stability"", it said.
+It urges local authorities to employ ""resolute, decisive and organised"" measures to stamp out the underground church.
+A local official reached by telephone in GPE refused to comment, saying the issue could arouse widespread international controversy.
+GPE allows NORP to worship under the auspices of the officially sanctioned, state-sponsored ORG but forbids allegiance to GPE or the Pope and maintains no diplomatic relations with the FAC.
+Authorities view underground congregations as a threat to party rule.
+Aims of what the document called its ""glorious assignment"" include to ""destroy the organisation of the NORP underground forces"" and to ""destroy the ORG's illegal assembly place"".
+Teachers engaged in illegal religious studies will be sacked and students are forbidden to carry any religious items.
+The document called specifically for large-scale assemblies on DATE to be stopped and exits of villages to be blocked to ensure no one leaves on DATE.
+The plan defined the struggle against underground NORP as a long-term political goal beyond DATE.
+ORG is a NORP group that monitors religious persecution in GPE and wants recognition of those faithful to GPE.
+It listed a string of recent examples of persecution of underground NORP in GPE, including the disappearance of ORG in northern GPE province, and the jailing of CARDINAL other bishops.
+Bishop Su vanished after CARDINAL troops sealed off the GPE village of GPE in DATE, destroyed a shrine to WORK_OF_ART that had drawn CARDINAL of underground NORP in DATE, and detained CARDINAL bishops and several priests and lay people, the foundation said.
+Bishop PERSON, DATE, was ordered in DATE to serve DATE of re-education through labour after celebrating an undergound mass and a ORDINAL bishop was jailed after he refused a bribe to join ORG, it said.
+CARDINAL underground NORP were arrested in GPE on DATE, it said but gave no more details.
+GPE's NORP and NORP churches, both tightly controlled by the state, claim CARDINAL believers but many more are believed to worship at underground churches.",1
+"ORG DATE launched electronic commerce software and a wide array of partners aimed at enabling consumers and businesses to buy and sell products over the World Wide Web.
+At the core of the announcement is ORG's PERSON, software which will enable businesses to set up electronic storefronts on the Internet, and a plan to build a new channel of service providers to help businesses do this.
+Analysts said the strategy was similar to that successfully used by ORG to sell networking software.
+""We believe there will be explosive growth (in use of the Web for shopping),"" ORG Chairman and Chief Executive PERSON said at a news conference unveiling the company's electronic commerce strategy.
+ORG also revealed CARDINAL companies that are in the process of building Merchant Server sites and PERSON, general manager of electronic commerce services at ORG, said he expects CARDINAL sites using the software by DATE.
+The product competes with an array of prior offerings, including those of ORG and Internet startup Open Market, as well as ORG and ORG
+As part of the deal, ORG and ORG brought together financial institutions and payment processors to provide a secure Internet retailing and payment system.
+The financial institutions involved include ORG, ORGamp; Co, ORG's ORG, ORG, ORG and ORG.
+Much of the technology was made available to partners for testing in DATE and was developed by ORG, which ORG acquired in DATE, company officials said.
+In addition to the infrastructure partners, PERSON said a key priority was ""trying to get this new channel built where we see a range of hosting service providers who are really going to be the ones who lease the CARDINAL lines and run the servers on behalf of merchants who are not technologists.""
+CARDINAL such company, GPE, Fl.-based ORG, has been in business DATE and already has some 50 customer Web sites in operation, including CARDINAL using the Merchant Server, according to PERSON, president of ORG.
+PERSON, a specialist GPE photographer, said he had chosen to go through a networking service and support firm using the Merchant Server product to start up a new gallery to sell original contemporary artwork on the Web.
+The site was set up in DATE, he said, and PERSON said the cost of getting the cyberspace gallery under way would amount to MONEY.
+But analysts said the market still may take a long time to develop into the multi-billion dollar market some Internet enthusiasts project.
+""As PERSON said clearly this is a beginning market,"" said PERSON, an analyst at ORG.
+Gates cited ORG and industry estimates that the number of consumers on the World Wide Web would more than triple DATE, to CARDINAL.
+The number of businesses on the Web is projected to grow QUANTITY by DATE to CARDINAL from CARDINAL currently, ORG said.
+PERSON, who publishes the ORG newsletter on the Internet, said estimates the minimum price for a decent store using the software is $MONEY.
+""The point of it is that for a lot of people setting up a virtual store it will be also as expensive to create and maintain as a real store,"" he said. ""You're not going to use this technology to take advantage of it for MONEY.""","GPE's ORG toasted local beer drinkers on DATE for a strong rise in pre-tax earnings, but losses in GPE and GPE took some fizz out of the DATE result.
+Foster's announced a PERCENT rise in pre-tax earnings to MONEY (MONEY) for DATE, due largely to what it called a sparkling performance by its home brews.
+ORG and ORG (ORG), the group's domestic brewer and earnings powerhouse, recorded an PERCENT surge in profit before interest and tax.
+""ORG's performance was, again, an absolutely outstanding feature of the result -- a sparkling performance, if you will excuse the pun,"" Foster's chief executive PERSON said.
+ORG, which brews GPE's best-selling beer, PERSON, now commands PERCENT of the local beer market, up from PERCENT DATE, Kunkel told reporters.
+But ORG's performance was partly overshadowed by PERSON's PERCENT-owned ORG, which was responsible for lowering the group's bottom line to MONEY, PERCENT up on DATE of CARDINAL.  
+""The result was mixed,"" Kunkel said of the NORP brewer's performance.
+Foster's booked a MONEY abnormal loss for restructuring costs at GPE, which ORG said was beginning to arrest a slide in its share of the NORP beer market.
+The loss, partly offset by smaller profit windfalls in the period, may not be the last from PERSON. Foster's is braced for more abnormal losses after PERSON DATE lost an arbitrated dispute with ORG
+A NORP arbitration panel ruled that PERSON had breached an agreement to brew and sell the GPE brewer's brands.
+The financial fallout is uncertain, but Kunkel said on DATE it was unlikely to be severe.
+""The arbitration panel did not set what the likely level of damages will be, so it's just impossible to tell what they may be,"" he said. A new licensing deal is being negotiated.
+Also, Foster's NORP operation continued to trade in the red, racking up MONEY in losses in DATE from its joint-venture breweries in GPE, GPE and GPE.
+But it said NORP revenue and sales volumes rose in DATE and that the operations in GPE were on track to break even in around 1999/2000.  
+Foster's plans to further expand in LOC and will enter other markets in the region in DATE.
+""In LOC, we are close to establishing production in CARDINAL or CARDINAL markets, and we will be aiming to do so as quickly as possible as part of or broader NORP strategy,"" Kunkel said.
+Kunkel gave no details, but he has said in the past that ORG is eyeing GPE and GPE.
+Foster's DATE result was roughly in line with stock market expectations, but the GPE losses raised some eyebrows.
+""GPE is eating their profits elsewhere. The other (units) have to make a pretty good performance to offset that all the time,"" said ORG analyst PERSON.
+Foster's share price ended MONEY lower at A$MONEY on DATE, falling with the market as it tumbled in late trade.
+(A$MONEY = US$MONEY)",0
+"Yorkshire-based chemicals group ORG said on DATE that its strategy of growing organically remained unchanged, despite the MONEY acquisition of ORG of the GPE
+Chief executive PERSON said ORG ""has not been acquisitive"" by tradition.
+""We saw this as an opportunity that does not come along very often,"" Farrar said in a telephone interview with ORG following the announcement of the purchase and interim results.  
+""This is a good strategic fit for us. CPS are in the same business as us, the chemistry is similar. We have had a long association with them and have been major customers of theirs for DATE.""
+The move will substantially increase ORG sales in the GPE, which already accounts for PERCENT of its DATE turnover. ORG, which has plants in GPE and GPE, had sales of MONEY DATE, PERCENT of which were in the domestic market.  
+Farrar said ORG, which provides chemicals for a wide range of industries including paper-making, minerals, textiles, oil and pharmaceuticals, remained committed to expansion in other key marekts, notably LOC and LOC. But this would be achieved ""by organic growth.""
+ORG believes the acquisition of ORG, which is partly being financed by a CARDINAL-for-seven rights issue to raise CARDINAL stg, will be earnings enhancing in its ORDINAL full financial yuear. It said it also expected to benefit from substantial GPE tax credits.  
+Farrar said the combined group would have a workforce of around CARDINAL following the addition of ORG' CARDINAL employees. He said ORG, which makes chemical intermediates and finished polymers for industry, will complement ORG in a number of areas, notably in coatings, paper and pollution control.
+It will also add to ORG's technological base and provide new products to market through its existing CARDINAL-strong salesforce.
+The rights issue and acquisition were accompanied by an upbeat statement on prospects, with ORG predicting a continued improvement in DATE sales and profits.  
+DATE pretax profits rose PERCENT to CARDINAL stg on sales up PERCENT at CARDINAL stg.
+Farrar said sharp falls in raw material costs DATE started to feed into DATE results, but their full impact would be felt in DATE. He predicted that gross profit margins would increase by CARDINAL percentage point in DATE from the PERCENT seen in DATE and the CARDINAL achieved in DATE.
+ORG is also predicting a further pick-up in sales growth in DATE, implying DATE sales of MONEY compared with CARDINAL DATE.
+-- GPE PRODUCT +44 CARDINAL 7717","Fast growing telephone reseller ORG said on DATE that it expects record earnings and sales growth for DATE, and has plans to expand into new services.
+""We should have DATE and DATE,"" PERSON, PRODUCT chief financial officer, told ORG in an interview.
+ORG said the company had plans to offer Internet access, home security monitoring, video service, local telephone services and eventually, wireless telephone.  
+PRODUCT reported a PERCENT rise in earnings per share in DATE to $MONEY from $MONEY DATE. The company is so far only covered by CARDINAL analyst, so no consensus of expectations was available.
+Excel doesn't own a single phone line itself, but uses the long distance network of ORG to reach customers. ORG's planned merger with ORG , makes entering new markets easier. ""Its definitely easier if you can go to one company and buy the product where you will get nationwide coverage rather than have to go various regional carriers to package it together,"" ORG said.  
+""The move between ORG and ORG is a brilliant deal strategically. We have a good relationship with ORG and we look forward to talking with them about what these new products are,"" he said.
+Excel is CARDINAL of around CARDINAL telephone service resellers which have been successfully eating into the market share of industry leaders like ORG They now account for MONEY of the MONEY long distance market.
+Analysts say the ORG merger will allow these aggressive competitors into high value markets which are not normally available to companies without owned facilities.  
+PRODUCT said its sales approach -- using independent sales representatives to sell to their friends, family and associates -- will be powerful in new markets.
+""Our relationship sales base is much stronger than telemarketing or direct mail programs, because the sales person knows the customer, and is able to sit down with them .. and explain the product,"" he said.
+In DATE PRODUCT said it had CARDINAL sales representatives against CARDINAL DATE. They earn a commission based on the size of the phone bill of those they sign up.
+PRODUCT's ORDINAL new resold product is paging, which it has previously announced it is launching DATE. It will be using the paging network of ORG Internet service should follow in DATE, ORG said. -- GPE  CARDINAL 859 1712",0
+"ORG Chief Executive Officer PERSON said DATE the company will focus its attention on what could become a MONEY market for collaborative Internet software by DATE.
+Lotus, acquired by ORG DATE in a deal valued at MONEY, should not try to be all things to all people, he said, but to concentrate its core business of software for groups, or so-called groupware.
+""Collaboration is clearly our sweet spot,"" he said in a keynote address at a DATE Internet & ORG conference here organised by ORG.
+A new version of the company's popular ORG PRODUCT software due out in DATE, version CARDINAL, will offer PRODUCT server software to host collaboration over the Internet. Servers are computers that manage the flow of data in a network.
+This latter feature is provided by new ORG technology PERSON, which is currently being tested.
+PERSON said too much attention was now devoted to browsers, software that lets users help navigate the Internet.
+""The browser market is being eclipsed by the server market DATE as we speak,"" he said, noting browsers will most likely be offered as part of the operating system, as with Windows.
+""The action, I believe, is going to be in the server market,"" he said, adding that server software for collaboration through Internet sites alone is projected to be a MONEY market by DATE.
+The market for servers at the hub of Web sites will likely segment into CARDINAL distinct classes -- content, collaboration and commerce -- and larger organisations will likely mix ""best of breed"" applications from different suppliers, he said.
+ORG is concentrating helping people work together electronically, he said, because ""content without collaboration is useless ... the value is not in the content.""
+He noted as an example Web sites which not only carried information, but enabled people to communicate interactively with the Web site or other individuals using the Internet.
+""The borders are blurry. I don't believe that we will see pure content sites and I don't believe that we will see pure commerce sites,"" he said. ""We will obtain and retain customers if we engage them.""","With GPE's takeover of GPE rapidly looming, the NORP colony faces a swirl of politics and diplomatic jousting in DATE, the last before GPE names the territory's ORDINAL post-colonial governor.
+NORP and NORP negotiators, often sparring over the details of the sovereignty transfer, will meet on DATE for DATE in their latest bargaining round.
+NORP sources said GPE is likely to lash out during ORG session at a NORP attempt to foist a soft subversion law on the territory before the DATE handover.
+DATE GPE announced a draft bill that would make crimes such as subversion and sedition a crime only if they entailed violence, making clear mere dissident-style criticism of the authorities was not a crime.
+GPE has denounced the move. ""This will only cause disruption and instability in GPE,"" GPE's spokesman in GPE PERSON said on DATE. Some members of the pro-GPE lobby predicted the law would be replaced by a more NORP-style legislation after the handover on DATE.
+The territory is also preparing for a visit by GPE Assistant Secretary of ORG PERSON Lord on DATE.
+Lord, who is also heading for GPE amid signs of a thaw in NORP ties, plans to meet Governor PERSON and his deputy PERSON, as well as GPE's hardline envoy in the territory, PERSON, and shipping tycoon PERSON, the favourite in the contest to be the ORDINAL post-colonial leader.
+Critics said Lord's meeting with PERSON would be an undiplomatic signal from GPE tantamount to GPE picking the winner in the contest.
+Fresh attacks on GPE are also expected on DATE from NORP in GPE elected legislature, which is set to be dissolved upon the handover and replaced with a new provisional body assembled under GPE's supervision.
+DATE a ORG of CARDINAL rich or influential GPE people, formed under GPE's careful control, quizzed PERSON and CARDINAL rivals over their policies and attitude to GPE.
+Tung, DATE, emerged as the most vocally pro-China contender, loosing off a volley of remarks that stressed loyalty and patriotism to GPE, attacked PERSON's politics and threw in a snub on the inauspicious quality of the governor's residence.
+The tycoon also suggested ORG, the territory's largest, should stop confronting GPE if it wanted to participate in post-handover political establishment, which drew an attack from Patten.
+""You can't, nobody can, freeze out of the political debate in GPE, out of the dialogue about GPE future, those who represent majority opinion in GPE,"" PERSON told GPE government-funded radio on DATE during his visit to GPE.
+The CARDINAL-member ORG will meet again on DATE to vote for the new chief executive. Most people now consider ORG's rivals Ti PERSON, a former chief judge, and businessman PERSON, rank outsiders.
+Many GPE people were unimpressed by DATE performances, not least the territory's pro-democracy camp.
+""Only empty promises and brief outlines were provided in their platforms,"" said legislator PERSON of ORG.
+He decried the fact GPE voters were not involved in choosing among the CARDINAL contenders. ""All they need is the blessing of these CARDINAL people,"" PERSON said.",0
+"Shares in ORG, one of the world's CARDINAL music majors, climbed on DATE after the company said that long-term prospects for the stuttering global music market were positive.
+ORG, which demerged from rentals company PERSON DATE, said profit before tax and exceptional items rose PERCENT to MONEY (MONEY) in DATE. Net interim dividend per share increased by PERCENT to MONEY.
+ORG shares, under pressure in DATE on fears that music sales were faltering after DATE of strong growth, added CARDINAL to CARDINAL in a generally lower market.
+""These are excellent interim results from ORG,"" chairman Sir PERSON said in a statement.
+""They have been achieved against a background of variable growth in the major markets and mixed results from our competitors,"" he added. ""The increase in the interim dividend reflects our confidence in the long-term health of the music industry and ORG's position within it.""
+Finance Director PERSON said ORG remained confident that the global music business would continue to grow by some PERCENT DATE in the medium to long-term.
+""DATE is looking a little bit below that level,"" said Duffy, saying that markets were patchy but that overall ORDINAL CARDINAL industry growth had been PERCENT. However, he added that the impact was diluted by the strength of sterling.
+The market's sluggishness has recently been reflected by CARDINAL layoffs at various labels within ORG and CARDINAL job cuts at ORG -- another of the top CARDINAL in the world music business.
+ORG said that sales in GPE were almost flat and declined slightly in GPE. But this was offset by improvements in GPE, GPE and GPE while LOC and LOC boasted particularly large gains.
+Turnover from the ORG division was down marginally at MONEY but improved margins helped to boost operating profits to MONEY from CARDINAL.
+The ORG division, grouping record and book stores chains, had an operating loss of MONEY which the company said was in line with expectations as its international expansion continued.
+ORG said major releases for the key DATE included the ORDINAL and final ORG album, which entered the NORP charts at CARDINAL. It is also releasing a triple album from ORG as Prince and the debut from NORP newcomers ORG. ($MONEY Pound)","NORP insurance group ORG targeted GPE and GPE as key markets on DATE as it fleshed out its role as the NORP arm of CARDINAL of the industry's global heavyweights.
+National Mutual, owned PERCENT by the recently expanded NORP insurance giant ORG, unveiled plans to double its representation DATE in mainland GPE by opening CARDINAL more local offices.
+National Mutual is sweating over its application for an operating licence in GPE, along with other insurers eager for exposure to the most populous nation's emerging middle class.
+""It is a key objective for the group and every effort is being made to obtain this licence,"" chairman PERSON told ORG DATE meeting in GPE.
+The group has applied to open offices in GPE, GPE and GPE, initially to conduct market research. It already has offices in GPE, GPE and GPE.  
+National Mutual has been try to enter GPE for DATE, during which it has signed a cooperation pact with NORP insurer ORG and has donated CARDINAL (MONEY) to set up a GPE education fund.
+National Mutual and ORG, which recently merged with rival ORG (ORG), launched a MONEY GPE investment fund in DATE.
+National Mutual has also applied to operate in GPE, and is eyeing market entry in GPE, GPE and the GPE.
+GPE and GPE are both reopening their insurance markets to foreign competition for the ORDINAL time in DATE, ORG managing director PERSON said.
+The company is considering taking a stake in an existing insurer in the GPE, and is taking a long-term view on GPE, which now has ""no real market to speak of"", he said. He gave no details on any likely investment in the GPE.
+""We are focusing our attention clearly DATE on GPE and GPE,"" PERSON told reporters after the meeting.
+""The work we're doing in relation to GPE, the GPE and GPE is getting acquainted with people and seeing how business is done (there)...,"" he said. National Mutual has aligned itself in GPE with a local joint venture partner, the ORG group, but its application for an operating licence has yet to be decided.
+National Mutual said it was not fazed by the new NORP government's decision to review the criteria for awarding insurance licences, and expected a decision within DATE.
+""It's a fertile market,"" PERSON said.
+National Mutual, which is still powered mainly by its GPE and GPE life office ORG, suggested it could become an overnight force in NORP funds management if it inherits the regional assets of ORG and ORG.
+National Mutual's funds management arm has MONEY (MONEY) in assets under management in LOC and stands to boost this to MONEY (corrects from MONEY) if the parent decides to make ORG its NORP funds management operation, the company said.
+""We will wait till they finalise their merger over there and talks will begin progressively,"" said PERSON, ORG managing director.
+(A$MONEY=US$0.75, HK$1=US$7.74)",0
+"The GPE government's top LOC official, PERSON, was to hold talks with NORP Deputy Foreign Minister PERSON in GPE on a range of issues including human rights, diplomats said on DATE.
+Lord, Assistant Secretary of ORG for NORP and Pacific Affairs, arrived on DATE for the unannounced visit and was keeping a low profile while in GPE, a GPE embassy official said.
+However he was due to hold talks with Deputy Foreign Minister PERSON and a possible meeting with Foreign Minister PERSON was on the agenda before Lord left on DATE for GPE, diplomats said.
+In GPE, ORG spokesman PERSON said on DATE that Lord was preparing for a visit DATE by Secretary of ORG PERSON, but officials said a wide range of other issues would almost certainly be raised.
+""Human rights will come up,"" CARDINAL diplomat said.
+GPE DATE sharply criticised the sentencing of dissident PERSON to DATE in a labour camp, as well as apparent plans to try another pro-democracy activist, PERSON, on the capital charge of plotting to subvert the government.
+GPE officials say relations with GPE have generally improved in DATE, but there have been frictions in DATE over its treatment of dissidents and over fresh reports of NORP nuclear sales to GPE.
+""I think all issues are on the table in (Lord's) discussions with the NORP. It wouldn't surprise me at all if that issue of the alleged sale of items between GPE and GPE came up,"" PERSON said.
+Nevertheless, he said GPE continued to maintain that GPE had not violated past pledges with the sale, which ORG said DATE consisted of a special industrial furnace and high-tech diagnostic equipment.
+PERSON also said human rights issues were likely to be raised.
+Diplomats said GPE would almost certainly be angered by reports that NORP dissident PERSON had arrived in GPE for asylum in GPE.
+A row over human rights scarred PERSON's last visit to GPE in DATE.
+PERSON is due to visit GPE on DATE on a trip originally announced in DATE.
+The visit would mark the highest point in relations since ties plunged after GPE's President PERSON paid a private visit to GPE in DATE -- a trip that enraged GPE.
+Both sides have said they are moving towards a possible exchange of presidential visits during DATE.
+Among outstanding issues that could spark GPE anger are the alleged nuclear sales and GPE's human rights record, while GPE blames GPE for holding up its application for membership of ORG.
+GPE officials said Lord had considered the possibility of extending his trip beyond GPE when he left GPE DATE, but did not finally decide to do so until he was already in LOC.
+Lord came to GPE after a visit to GPE to discuss tensions over the beaching of a NORP submarine on the NORP coast DATE.  
+""With more and more (listed) firms involving in such takeovers, regulation and supervision has become a tough task,"" said CARDINAL analyst with ORG.
+""The central government should not wait until there are too many headaches before taking measures to sort things out,"" he said.
+But the analyst said that despite the problems, takeovers would be a focus of the stock market over DATE because of restrictions in other areas, including a ban on mergers between listed firms and unlisted firms.
+In the DATE history of modern GPE's stock markets, there has been no case of a takeover of CARDINAL listed firm by another.","GPE's new hardline dictum to its people to battle hostile NORP influences with puritan NORP values underlines a poverty of ideas among an ageing leadership with declining credibility in a fast-changing society, analysts said on DATE.
+""They don't seem to grasp that people have changed since DATE when they had nothing else to do but to listen to lengthy party documents being broadcast on the radio,"" said CARDINAL GPE analyst.
+""Nowadays people have so many other activities they may just skim over the headlines and not bother to read something like this,"" he said, referring to a CARDINAL-character ORG document issued in official newspapers on DATE.
+""Do the leaders not realise people can channelsurf because it's not just CARDINAL television station any more?"" he said.
+GPE's ruling ORG, in what it hailed as one of its greatest documents ever, warned against hostile NORP ideas such as capitalism and parliamentary democracy, urged vigilance against pornography and profit and vowed to fight back with puritan NORP values.
+""If they are seeking to change the average NORP in the street then this is not the answer,"" said CARDINAL Western diplomat, describing the newest demand for ideological conformity as a rehash of communist methods practiced for DATE.
+NORP political analysts have warned that the inability of the communist leadership to move with the times and experiment with new ideas and methods to stir up popular support in a society rapidly being transformed by market-oriented economic reforms could have dangerous repercussions.
+""A lot of people just aren't listening any more,"" CARDINAL analyst said, adding that a consequence of this breakdown of communication would create even more distance between the populace and a leadership that is already remote and secretive.
+To recapture popular attention, GPE's leaders might try to use more extreme propaganda tools, such as whipping up a potentially destabilising nationalist and anti-Western campaign, analysts said.
+""We are looking at an ageing leadership -- many of the ORG are in their DATE -- who are set in their ways and don't seem able to accept younger advisers trying to package acceptable ideology in new wrapping paper,"" CARDINAL diplomat said.
+ORG leader PERSON had missed an opportunity to appoint a younger leadership when he purged the upper echelons after the DATE student demonstrations for more democracy, analysts and diplomats said.
+Analysts said that while the latest communist creed tried to present itself as a balanced dictum, it was clearly intended to achieve the goal of conformity of thought.
+""It's pretty much a blueprint for censors to do what they want,"" said CARDINAL diplomat.
+Even conservative newspaper editors appointed in DATE as replacements to more liberal writers have been purged in DATE, a succession of books have been ordered off the shelves and popular author PERSON has been effectively banned.
+""Things are only going to get worse,"" said CARDINAL analyst.
+However, some doubted how effective a new purge would be.
+""It's part and parcel of an attempt to take control of the way people think and the kind of cultural afairs that are conducted,"" the western diplomat said.
+""But people don't always take as much notice as they once did,"" he said. ""It may not last much longer than the time it takes to read the thing.""",1
+"NORP subscriber television company ORG said on DATE that it was merging with ORG, a NORP satellite television company, to create one of the world's largest pay-TV groups.
+Nethold is jointly held by PERSON, which is quoted on the GPE and GPE stock exchanges and ORG, a listed holding company.
+""This merger is a major strategic move, resulting in the creation of CARDINAL of the largest television groups in the world...particularly in the field of pay-TV with over CARDINAL subscribers,"" WORK_OF_ART said in a statement.
+The new group will have significant positions in GPE, GPE, GPE, LOC, the GPE countries and GPE, as well as a presence in several growing markets in central LOC.
+The GPE stockmarket authorities had suspended trading in ORG shares on DATE TIME, sparking speculation of a link up between the NORP firm and ORG.
+Its stock closed at MONEY on DATE.
+ORG group ORG, a key shareholder in ORG, said in a separate statement that it was delighted with the merger plan, which marked big step in ORG international development.
+The pact would give the NORP company access to the fast growing NORP market, ORG said.
+It would also give the new group greater weight in negotiating purchases of copyrights and open opportunities for the launch of NORP theme channels.
+ORG said it was comfortable with its investment in ORG. It said that, in agreement with other ORG shareholders, it would seek to maintain the same scale of investment in the new company.
+Under the terms of the deal, ORG will buy PERCENT of Nethold from Richemont and PERSON, paying with CARDINAL new ORG shares and MONEY in cash.
+Following the issue of new ORG shares, Richemont and ORG will respectively own PERCENT of ORG. ORG has interests in luxury goods and tobacco and owns such famous brandnames as ORG, Mont Blanc, NORP and PERSON.
+Canal Plus said the deal had the backing of its main shareholders, media group GPE, ORG, bank ORG and state bank ORG. It is subject to regulatory and shareholder approval.","GPE is quietly importing some Western grain to offset its ORDINAL meagre harvest in a row, but traders said on DATE that the country was too broke to be a big presence on world grain markets DATE.
+A senior NORP grains source who declined to be identified said unnamed NORP organisations had quietly bought QUANTITY cargoes of GPE No. CARDINAL corn (maize) at DATE, importing the grain through the NORP port of GPE.
+But other GPE sources -- eager to preserve secrecy in a market scarce on hard information and anxious about loose talk -- talked down the prospects for imports.
+""There's enough grain on the (domestic) market,"" said PERSON, a vice-president at big traders Exportkhleb. ""Quality is a different issue. But today I don't see any significant import orders.""
+Wildly varying estimates of how much GPE will import after its QUANTITY harvest DATE, CARDINAL of the worst in DATE, have kept Western markets guessing about their chances of selling to the world's former biggest grain buyer.
+The NORP government imported MONEY of grain in DATE, staging a ""great grain robbery"" that markets have had trouble forgetting. In DATE GPE emptied the GPE grain larder by buying heavily from all the major grain exporters simultaneously.
+While GPE has said markets should forget the past and the ORG is no longer a buyer, private companies are combing Western and NORP markets for supplies.
+""GPE will import DATE because otherwise it doesn't get the quality it needs,"" said PERSON, vice-president of GPE's ORG, referring to the fact that much NORP wheat from the DATE crop is unfit for human consumption.
+PERSON of ORG, a government-sponsored think-tank, put GPE's total grain imports over DATE from all sources at QUANTITY, repeating a forecast made earlier by farm expert PERSON.
+GPE's DATE harvest saw maize output slip to QUANTITY, down CARDINAL on DATE levels.
+But there is no consensus on GPE's overall import plans.
+""I don't think they'll go back to buying large quantities of grain,"" said PERSON, a ORG agriculture adviser, adding that imports of ready-made food were the trend.
+CARDINAL prominent NORP trader estimated GPE's total maize imports over the DATE crop marketing year at QUANTITY due to falling livestock numbers.
+But Agriculture Minister PERSON said in DATE that GPE would import CARDINAL-4.5 million tonnes of maize and soymeal to supplement the DATE harvest, with maize purchases CARDINAL times higher than soymeal purchases.
+ORG figures show GPE imported a robust QUANTITY of wheat in DATE, including QUANTITY from GPE. PERSON figures were not available.
+Analysts said NORP farmers were worried less by plummeting production levels and more by the fact that domestic customers lacked purchasing power to buy their grain.
+GPE's costly and inefficient farm sector, an economic basket-case, accounted for DATE of gross domestic product in the NORP era and wasted PERCENT of grain output.
+Farmers, unable to adjust rapidly to market economy ways, have seen grain output nearly halved from peak levels, and food imports now comprise CARDINAL of the NORP market.
+CARDINAL GPE grains source forecast fewer winterkill losses DATE and said a protective blanket of snow had kept DATE crops snug and tight. But the source said warm weather and floods in parts of the Northern Caucasus grain-belt could hit output.
+Analysts said prospects for higher grain output DATE were muted, with the area sown to winter crops DATE down PERCENT on DATE's level.
+""The signs aren't very good,"" Manellya said.
+PERSON, +7095 CARDINAL 8520",0
+"Embattled NORP property company PERSON had the immediate threat of a shareholder call for its break-up removed on DATE, but the firm still faced an unwanted merger proposal from a smaller rival.
+Greycoat welcomed an overwhelming vote against the breakup resolution put forward by ORG (ORG) and chief executive PERSON said he hoped the group could now get on with its normal business.
+""It has cost us a lot of money and a lot of wasted effort and time. What we would like to do is get on with running a property company,"" PERSON said in an interview.
+He was speaking after the vote by PERSON shareholders on ORG's call for the sale of all ORG's QUANTITY (MONEY) assets. Among PERSON sharholders, PERCENT of those who voted, representing PERCENT of the share capital, voted against the sale.
+Shares in PERSON closed unchanged at MONEY, compared with a year high of MONEY and a low of MONEY.
+ORG, which is advised by NORP PERSON Active Value Advisers, said on DATE it would abstain at the reconvened extraordinary general meeting.
+It argued it had already achieved one of its main aims, the sale of PERSON's largest asset, PERSON, on the River Thames in central GPE.
+It now thought a merger proposal from ORG had ""considerable merit and could better serve the interests of PERSON shareholders"".
+PERSON welcomed the fact that one uncertain element surrrounding the group was over, adding PERSON had yet to receive the answers needed about the PERSON merger proposal.
+""We still haven't received answers to our DATE questions,"" he said of the PERSON approach, adding PERSON was not prepared to embark on a due diligence exercise or open its books to PERSON without more concrete details of the firm's plans.
+PERSON has suggested demerging PERSON's largest assets, but PERSON said it had yet to convince him it had proposals that would work.
+Moorfield shares were also unchanged at MONEY, compared with a year high of MONEY and a low of MONEY.
+PERSON said relations with potential purchasers had been established but there were fairly few buyers in the world able to pay MONEY (MONEY).
+But he said he could not quantify how much losing the opportunity of an ""off market"" sale might shave off the sale price. ($MONEY Pound)","GPE's Takeover Panel, after battling to defend its policing role of GPE's busy mergers and acquisitions market against NORP interference, has ended DATE in the spotlight over its handling of ORG bid for ORG.
+The non-statutory body has spent much of DATE campaigning against a framework ORG proposal on takeover bids which it says will lead to multi-million pound lawsuits and harm GPE's system of takeover regulation.
+But on DATE the panel's own role was under scrutiny as the outcome of a bitter bid battle between GPE group GPE and NORP utility PRODUCT hung in the balance.
+""What is going on at the moment is being watched pretty closely. It is a fairly unique situation,"" a financial services lawyer said.
+Criticism of the part the panel has played stems from QUANTITY ($MONEY) payment made by LOC to CARDINAL of its advisors, BZW, the investment banking arm of NORP banking giant ORG.
+BZW said this was a discretionary fee and denied that it was linked to its purchase DATE of Northern shares, which had already been allowed by the panel. After it was told of the payment, the panel extended the deadline for acceptances.
+After the official close of the offer DATE, Northern would have remained independent as ORG had only achieved the support of PERCENT of NORP shareholders. But following the extension, ORG said on DATE it had PERCENT.
+A source close to the discussions said it was ""very unusual and maybe unique"" for the panel to be in the position of deciding the fate of a company in this way.
+This view was echoed by other market participants.
+""This is an unndented step the panel has taken,"" CARDINAL investment banking source told ORG of the decision to grant an extension to the offer period at such a late stage.
+Northern's fate now lies in the panel's hands. The company has said it wants to appeal against the decision and revert to the result at the original end of the offer period. Acceptances after the initial deadline require the panel's approval.
+""They (the panel) now find themselves in a very difficult situation,"" the investment banking source added.
+Any changes in the way in which the panel operates must either come from government, by bringing in legislation to establish a statutory force to regulate takeovers, or from within the body itself, market players said.
+Pressure from industry participants could lead to the panel making changes itself. ""They can change LAW (the rule book regulating takeovers) at the drop of a hat,"" CARDINAL industry source said, adding that it had so far managed the system well.
+""The panel seemed to be coping well with the upturn in bid activity. The system seemed to be working pretty well,"" he said. Mergers and acquisitions activity has reached peak levels in DATE, with a number of both agreed and disputed bids.
+Apart from the potential threat from the NORP takeover directive, there had ""been no major challenges to the panel's authority over DATE"", he added.
+Even if the ruling ORG loses a general election which must be held by DATE, market participants said they did not expect pressure for legislation to put the panel on a statutory footing under a Labour government.
+""The general feeling is pretty much against it (legislation) and the indications so far ist change it,"" said CARDINAL.",1
+"ORG pledged again DATE to halt the erosion of its leading share of the MONEY GPE cereal market, but did not say what steps it planned to take.
+The uncertainty over its future strategy made some investors nervous, and the stock was down MONEY to $MONEY in TIME trading after earlier falling MONEY on ORG.
+Earlier, company executives met with analysts to discuss its strategy to stop market share erosion, but offered few details.
+""I was unimpressed with the company's presentation,"" ORG analyst PERSON said.
+Kellogg pledged to stop any further crumbling of its GPE market share, which has dropped to CARDINAL from what it considers to be a normal level of PERCENT, analysts said.
+Kellogg, the leader in the GPE ready-to-eat cereal market, said it will not tolerate any further market share erosion, a company spokesman said, but did not give any specifics.
+""He (Chairman PERSON) indicated we remain committed to our long-term strategy of lower cereal prices and reducing inefficient price promotion spending, introducing strong new products, cutting costs,"" ORG spokesman PERSON said. ""That's the long-term way to go.""
+In the short term, analysts said, ORG is hoping that competitors cut back on their promotions, taking the pressure of its market share.
+""The ORDINAL thing they are going to do is hope the competition will cut back (on) promotions,"" PERSON said. ""Their initial strategy is a passive one.""
+But if competitors, such as rival ORG, do not cut back on discount coupons and other consumer enticements, analysts said ORG will have to respond in kind.
+Kellogg officials were not immediately available.
+""Their primary goal for DATE is to get volume moving back up again,"" NORP ORG analyst PERSON said. ""In regard to the GPE cereal business, it is going to cost them some money to do that.""
+For now, ORG is not expected to increase its marketing push too much, given its pledge to report modestly better DATE earnings compared with DATE results of MONEY, or MONEY a share.
+""They're very concerned about their credibility after DATE and are not likely to do anything that will prevent them from making that very modest increase in DATE earnings,"" ORG analyst PERSON said.
+DATE earnings per share were down PERCENT, which ORG blamed on competition in the GPE cereal market.
+ORG has said DATE earnings will be below the MONEY, or $MONEY a share, it earned in DATE. The consensus of analysts' estimates for DATE is $MONEY a share, according to ORG.
+Kellogg has said it expects earnings in DATE to be lower than in DATE. Earnings for all of DATE are expected to be up by a low double-digit percentage from disappointing DATE results.
+Compounding Kellogg's problem is the slow growth in the GPE cereal market, despite a round of price cuts by major companies DATE.
+ORG said the GPE cereal market overall grew by PERCENT in DATE.
+""The price cuts didn't work. It didn't help their (ORG) volume or industry volume,"" PERSON said. ""(That) backs up my contention that consumers who want to eat cereal are eating cereal, whether its $MONEY a box, which they complain about, or $MONEY a box, which they would prefer.""","GPE's ORG DATE concluded a long-awaited global alliance with ORG, reuniting the GPE brand worldwide for the ORDINAL time in DATE.
+Despite the tie-up, which covers CARDINAL hotels in CARDINAL countries, the CARDINAL companies denied there was a hidden agenda to progress toward a full merger of the CARDINAL groups.
+""We're taking a ORDINAL step in bringing the hotels business much closer. We're putting the relationship back together and who knows what may come of it,"" said Ladbroke Chief Executive PERSON.
+The companies said the deal covering sales and marketing, frequent customer programmes and development would fuel top-line growth and dispel the confusion that has surrounded the CARDINAL groups in DATE.
+GPE has operated separately within and outside the GPE market since DATE, when ORG was spun off from NORP.
+""From our customers' point of view this will look as if it's CARDINAL company for the ORDINAL time in DATE. For DATE we've confused our guests ... They'll now no longer see a difference between a GPE GPE and a GPE in GPE,"" said PERSON, chief executive of ORG.
+""These CARDINAL companies will have such a close alliance and so many points of contact with each other that I believe you will get all the benefits of CARDINAL legal entity whether or not you become one legal entity.""
+The reunification would also help both groups capitalise on industry growth and make them more resilient in cyclical downturns, PERSON said.
+Announcing the signing of the agreements for the hotel deal, which was ORDINAL unveiled last summmer, the companies also said a worldwide loyalty programme -- ORG -- would start DATE.
+That would be the single most important marketing link between the CARDINAL, PERSON said, adding that there was scope for further cooperation in other areas such as gaming.
+""There is a gaming provision as well whereby we're looking at doing some gaming projects together,"" said PERSON.
+""It's not a deal that involves a great deal of cost savings but the primary benefit is the top line -- it'll be driving revenues. It can be valued in the MONEY to each company.""
+As expected, the agreements provide for taking cross shareholdings of PERCENT. GPE said it intended to acquire a PERCENT stake in ORG in due course.
+Mutual participation in future hotel development will focus primarily on management contracts and franchises, but the companies said it was no longer proposed that each make minority investments in the other's hotel real estate.",0
+"GPE's financial industry suffered another blow on DATE when a court was asked to start bankruptcy proceedings against a major realtor which has estimated liabilities of MONEY.
+But analysts said that while the collapse of GPE-based PERSON could affect some individual financial institutions, it was unlikely to have any major negative impact on the overall financial industry.
+ORG (ORG), a semi-governmental body set up to collect problem loans run up by CARDINAL failed mortgage companies, said on DATE it had asked the GPE ORG to start bankruptcy proceedings against PERSON and CARDINAL of its affiliates.
+If PERSON, an unlisted real estate company which borrowed heavily from the ""jusen"" mortgage firms, is declared bankrupt, it could become one of GPE's biggest ever business failures, analysts said.
+The ORG said it has claims totalling MONEY (MONEY) on PERSON and the CARDINAL units. The claims were transferred from the failed jusen firms to the body.
+In total, PERSON group's liabilities are estimated at MONEY (MONEY), said ORG, a private credit research body.
+GPE's banking industry was also jolted DATE when a major financing company, ORG, filed for liquidation with huge debt liabilities. Like the jusen and PERSON, GPE was a casualty of the property-related lending boom in DATE ""bubble era"" and the subsequent dive in asset prices.
+The GPE court has taken steps to seize the assets of PERSON and its affiliates in response to the application, the ORG statement said. There was no immediate comment from PERSON on the moves.
+Although the overall damage to the financial system may be slight, analysts said individual non-bank financial institutions with outstanding loans to Sueno could suffer. A non-bank financial institution makes loans but does not take deposits, raising funds by borrowing from banks.
+""Should Sueno be forced into bankruptcy and its assets distributed, many of the other lender non-banks will be forced to absorb huge losses relative to their size,"" said PERSON, ORG) analyst.
+""This will probably force many of them (creditors) into distress or bankruptcy, so the outcome...should be closely watched,"" he said.
+Finance Minister PERSON did not appear to be that worried, although he told reporters the PERSON problem might spread to financial firms that had lent it money.
+""However, such an impact will be resolved among related financial institutions in accordance with our financial system,"" he said.
+PERSON, governor of ORG GPE (DIC), which supervises the HLAC, said in a statement that it was inevitable such action would be taken against some ""malignant"" borrowers like Sueno, which he said had repeatedly attempted to hide assets.
+In DATE, GPE adopted a controversial plan that allowed for the use of MONEY (MONEY) in public funds to help wind up the jusen.
+The ORG inherited assets totalling MONEY (MONEY) from the failed firms after MONEY (MONEY) worth of unrecoverable loans were written off with the help of financial institutions and public money. (MONEY)","Cocoa arrivals in GPE at the start of the 1996/97 season are slower than normal with exporters awaiting financing and warehouses filling up at the main port, GPE, exporters and shipping sources say.
+""There is a problem of finding space in the port,"" the head of the exporters' trade body, PERSON, PERSON, told ORG.
+He and others say delays in issuing export licences and freight rates had blocked shipments of cocoa. Large consignments of cotton were also taking up port space, they added.
+Exporters were also unable to secure bank finance without export licences and contracts.
+""Some are financing buying operations themselves but up-country buyers are keeping busy,"" said a GPE exporter.
+GPE opened its CARDINAL cocoa marketing season on DATE with its farmgate price unchanged at CARDINAL ORG per bagged kilo and the cocoa export tax down CARDINAL CFA to CARDINAL, but has yet to set reference exporter rates and buyer commissions as well as freight rates.
+""Arrivals are lower than normal but we should get back into a rhythm in DATE,"" said the GPE exporter.
+""We are hoping all rates will be out within a fortnight,"" said PERSON President PERSON. He said CARDINAL exporters were given licences DATE but CARDINAL applicants were still waiting for government approval.
+CARDINAL buyers were expected to be approved, he added.
+PERSON, new head of the PRODUCT cocoa marketing agency which grants licences and sets reference exporter and buyers' commission rates is expected to return from GPE in DATE.
+Precise arrival figures remain unclear. Market estimates range from CARDINAL to CARDINAL for GPE in DATE and QUANTITY for GPE.
+""It is too early to get a clear picture of quantities. Wait until DATE,"" said CARDINAL exporter. ""DATE, arrivals were QUANTITY in DATE. I think it will be DATE but QUANTITY for DATE cannot be discounted,"" he added. ""PERSON sizes and quality are very good, CARDINAL per CARDINAL grammes.""
+Early arrivals were also greater at GPE.
+""Liberalisation of transport means it is cheaper to go to the nearest port. If PERSON exported PERCENT of cocoa DATE, it could well be PERCENT DATE (CARDINAL),"" said the GPE exporter.
+Buyers around PERSON and PERSON said rains were regular with good sunshine. ""There are plenty of flowers. But we need regular showers DATE for a good April and DATE crop,"" said ORG-based buyer Makkram Haddad.
+Up-country buyers around Gagnoa and ORG said some stocks were still held up-country because heavy rains in DATE, DATE and in some areas, DATE had made bush tracks impassable.
+""We are buying CARDINAL new QUANTITY covered trucks to get through to farmers who cannot move their stocks,"" said PERSON buyer ORG ""Some tracks have been repaired but there is a lot of damage and QUANTITY trucks are too big.""
+Buyers say they usually replace their trucks DATE. CARDINAL truck importer told ORG sales were rising.
+Sunny weather south of GPE in DATE had dried many areas, PERSON and others said. Intermittent rain has continued north of GPE.
+Up-country sources said stocks of cocoa being held by buyers in centre-west and south-west areas around ORG, Duekoue and ORG would be taken to port when the full scale of marketing costs was known.
+-- ORG, + 225 21 90 90",0
+"Long distance and local telephone company ORG said on DATE it is investing MONEY in a MONEY fiber optic network being built across GPE.
+ORG said it will be the largest fiber optic network built in GPE as a single project, and will put it ahead of ORG, ORG and others whose networks include both old and new technologies.
+ORG, spun off from ORG in DATE, will supply the network cable. That contract is worth MONEY, a source close to the deal said.
+The network is being built by privately owned ORG, which began work in DATE and has already spent MONEY. ORG said it is open to other telecommunications partners to help fund the remaining MONEY.
+The network will connect CARDINAL cities and use the technical standard known as SONET, or ORG, which gives high performance and reliability.
+""Used in a ring, SONET allows you to recover from a network failure in milliseconds,"" said analyst PERSON of consultants ORG. ""This investment will expand ORG's network reach to customers it was hard to get at low cost,"" she said.
+ORG, based in GPE, GPE, currently leases its network from others. But it expects to be able to cut costs significantly by this investment, which will increase its network capacity QUANTITY.
+PERSON, president of ORG unit, said the network would begin to bring benefits in DATE, halving network transport costs, and cutting incremental network costs by PERCENT.
+""Clearly it makes better sense for us to own the network,"" PERSON told a teleconference.
+Qwest, a company specializing in network construction, is based in GPE, GPE It is a subsidiary of ORG PERSON's owner and chief executive is PERSON, the largest shareholder in ORG
+ORG will fund MONEY of its investment from its own cash flow, and may use short- and medium-term debt for the remaining MONEY.
+ORG's stock lost MONEY to end at $MONEY on ORG.","ORG, the No. CARDINAL long distance phone company, said DATE it was in talks to be acquired by ORG in what would be one of the biggest mergers ever.
+Industry analysts said that if a deal emerges, it would send shudders throughout the worldwide telecommunications industry, and present an especially tough challenge for ORG, the leading -- but struggling -- GPE phone company.
+NORP Telecom already holds a PERCENT stake in ORG.
+No price has yet been agreed upon, a source close to the deal said, but analysts were speculating on $MONEY a share, which would value ORG at MONEY, and leave NORP Telecom with a bill for MONEY for PERCENT of the company it does not already own.
+GPE-based ORG said it expected the talks to be concluded DATE, although it noted that there were no guarantees an agreement would be reached. ""ORG anticipates that its deliberations will be concluded DATE and an announcement will be made prior to DATE TIME,"" it said.
+Analysts said a combination of the CARDINAL companies would be a good fit in the super-competitive GPE long distance phone industry, where ORG and No. CARDINAL ORG have been battling an ailing ORG
+""This is ORG worst nightmare. (AT&T Chief Executive) PERSON will not get a wink of sleep DATE,"" said consultant PERSON, of ORG.
+""This is an extremely competitive business, and horizontal mergers like this make sense,"" said PERSON, chief economist at ORG. ""The economies of scale in this case could be considerable, and the leverage in terms of potential profits is high ... It would be good purchase.""
+A spokesman for ORG confirmed the NORP company was interested in a merger with ORG.
+A NORP Telecom-ORG deal would be the largest between a NORP and NORP company, and it would rank as the ORDINAL-biggest ever involving a GPE company, behind the ORG buyout by PERSONamp; Co., worth MONEY including debt, according to ORG.
+NORP Telecom is aiming to offer a mixture of cash and stock for PERCENT of ORG it does not own, CARDINAL source told ORG. The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said an announcment was expected on DATE, if not before.
+""If it is true, it would have huge implications for the GPE market,"" said analyst PERSON of ORG. ""ORG had taken competition about as far as it could go, and needs an infusion of capital for the next stage,"" he said.
+ORG has PERCENT of the MONEY GPE long distance market, compared with PERCENT for NORP But both are also preparing to enter the MONEY local calling market.
+""It gives ORG an enormous warchest to attack the local markets and defend itself against the regional Bells in the long distance market,"" said analyst PERSON of ORG.
+Analysts said ORG has a very strong balance sheet and free cash flow, which could help fund the coming multi-front marketing war, from wireless, long distance and local calling to satellite TV, Internet and business data services.
+NORP Telecom suffered a serious setback in DATE after NORP utility PRODUCT severed links with ORG to join a rival consortium led by GPE's ORGamp; Wireless Plc. to provide service in GPE.
+At DATE NORP Telecom signalled its ambitions in the NORP market through a consortium involving ORG.
+""It would be a good fit for NORP Telecom and provide a major foothold in this country,"" said PERSON, managing director of ORG and Catherwood.
+In GPE, lawyers and analysts said a deal would likely win approval of GPE regulators.
+""It appears this deal would pass (ORG) approval at ORDINAL glance,"" said PERSON of ORG ORG.
+An ORG rule adopted DATE permits a foreign carrier to invest in a GPE carrier in excess of a PERCENT cap, as long as the overseas company's home market is open for competition from GPE telecommunications companies.
+PERSON, a former head of the ORG's international bureau and now an attorney with ORGamp; ORG, said that other than the GPE telecommunications market, the NORP market is the ""most open"" in the world.
+ORG was founded in DATE as MICOM, or ORG It was the ORDINAL company to be authorized by ORG to compete against ORG in the domestic long-distance market.
+ORG started offering point-to-point private-line service between GPE and GPE in DATE, sold stock and was incorprated as ORG in DATE.
+The GPE-based company filed an antitrust suit against ORG in DATE. DATE, a jury ruled in ORG's favor on almost all counts and awarded the company MONEY, providing a warchest to fund its expansion following the DATE decision by ORG and ORG to break up the giant's monopoly on the nation's long distance industry.",1
+"ORG Chairman PERSON said he is comfortable with analysts' estimates for DATE earnings from continuing operations of MONEYMONEY per fully diluted share, up from $MONEY from continuing operations DATE.
+""We're comfortable with that,"" PERSON said in a telephone interview.  
+Looking ahead, the water treatment and process chemicals company expects to increase earnings by a double-digit rate.
+""Our overall goal is to grow double-digit, and we certainly think we can do that many more years than not,"" PERSON said. ""DATE, we don't see as atypical as yet.""
+DATE, GPE reported DATE earnings of $MONEY per fully diluted share from continuing operations, up PERCENT from $MONEY DATE.
+To increase its business, which is roughly equally divided between water treatment and process chemicals, PERSON will continue to make strategic acquisitions, ORG said.  
+TIME, GPE, based in GPE, GPE, agreed to acquire ORG, a GPE-based water treatment company with MONEY in DATE sales.
+""They (PERSON) are operating in an area that is growing rapidly and also have some very fine people,"" PERSON said.
+Technical personnel in the water treatment business are a key asset given the range of customers served, from manufacturers to hospitals. Nalco's technology treats both water intake as well as water that is discharged.
+Nalco also provides process chemicals to a variety of industries, such as paper-making.  
+Nalco is also split in CARDINAL between GPE and foreign markets, currently operating in CARDINAL countries.
+With a global presence, PERSON, with MONEY in DATE sales, is able to pursue opportunities wherever they arise, ORG said. CARDINAL down side, however, is that such globalization also makes it suspectible to regional economic downturns.  
+For example, GPE's NORP division, which accounts for PERCENT of its foreign business, faces tough economic conditions there. And as a GPE company, GPE's NORP profits suffer when converted into a stronger GPE dollar.
+""We are growing in dollar terms, if at all, very slowly in LOC right now,"" PERSON said.
+Balancing that weakness in LOC, GPE is growing by about double-digits in GPE, which accounts for CARDINAL the business.  
+Nalco's business in the LOC/Pacific market, which accounts for PERCENT of company revenue, currently is growing at PERCENT. In LOC, which also accounts for PERCENT of GPE's business, growth is running at PERCENT, ORG said.
+""Wherever in the world it is, we'll go after that opportunity,"" PERSON said.
+ORG Chicago PERSON","The green fields of agricultural biotechnology are turning into a legal battle ground as companies file suits and countersuits against each other to protect their stakes in the budding business.
+Biotech players are ""suing each other over control of the technology,"" said PERSON, professor of ORG at ORG. ""They are going to redefine how they work together.""
+At stake are rights to produce and sell genetically enhanced crops. After DATE of research, biotech crops are beginning to be commercialized. They include corn and cotton that produce their own pesticides and soybeans that can withstand the use of certain herbicides.
+In the end, analysts and company executives say, many of the lawsuits are expected to be settled out of court, resulting in agreements to license and swap technology.
+""It is very unlikely, because stakes are very high, that the seed companies will really let this work its way entirely through the court system,"" said PERSON analyst PERSON.
+""Ultimately (companies) will cross-license, trade rights and use these pieces of protected technology as assets and trade them back and forth,"" added PERSON, a spokesman for ORG
+Pioneer, which provides the leading share of seed for corn, the biggest GPE crop, has been sued for alleged patent infringement by ORG
+ORG's defence is that it has a GPE patent pending, which if approved could supersede PERSON's claims. ORG said the application for that patent was filed before GPE's.
+The case illustrates how new and pending patents complicate the legal landscape for agricultural biotechnology as seed and biotech development companies seek protection for their gene portfolios, production methods and the biotech crops themselves.
+""The patent positions are not yet clear. The patents that have been issued leave some room for different interpretations,"" said PERSON, vice president of communications and investor relations for ORG
+ORG and ORG have sued each other for alleged patent infringement, and ORG is considering appealing some recent rulings in ORG's favour, ORG said.
+Despite the legal complications, companies are expected to continue full-steam to commercialize biotech crops.
+""They've made the decision to go ahead,"" said ORG analyst PERSON.
+ORG, for example, DATE commercialized in limited quantities CARDINAL corn hybrids that contain the Bt gene, which enables the plant to produce a substance that is toxic to the NORP core borer, a major pest.
+Sund said the hybrids have performed well, as expected, in fighting off the corn borer. ""Performance has been everything we hoped for,"" he added.
+A genetically enhanced cotton that contains the Bt gene to fight bollworm has come under some tough scrutiny DATE after a heavy infestation of the pest in some areas of GPE prompted farmers to use chemical sprays on the crop.
+Monsanto, which collaborated with ORG and ORG to produce PERSON cotton, maintained that the biotech crop still performed well. ORG said PERSON cotton had to be sprayed less than traditional cotton.
+The collaboration between ORG and ORG and Pine Land is but CARDINAL example of the partnerships that are being forged in agricultural biotechnology.
+ORG has an ownership stake in GPE and ORG has a research collaboration with ORG.
+These partnerships -- like the lawsuits -- underscore CARDINAL key aspect of the biotechnology business: no one party has all the key pieces to the puzzle.
+""No one single firm has the monopoly on the germ plasm,"" PERSON said. ""No one single firm has the monopoly on the science.""",1
+"ORG key index closed at new highs for the ORDINAL consecutive session on DATE, soaring into record territory and ending above the CARDINAL point level.
+The TSE 300 Composite Index climbed CARDINAL points to end at CARDINAL, after earlier reaching a new intra-day high of CARDINAL.
+GPE, which set records for the ORDINAL time DATE, was boosted by stronger gold stocks. Portfolio consultant PERSON said investors were looking to snap up cheap gold issues which had recently weakened on plunging bullion prices.
+Bullion prices have weakened since DATE on news that the NORP central bank had sold QUANTITY of gold reserves.
+""Despite the decline in the price of gold, gold stocks have done reasonably well,"" PERSON said. ""People could have gone bargain-hunting DATE.""
+Trading was heavy at CARDINAL shares worth MONEY (MONEY).
+Almost all of GPE's CARDINAL sub-indices rose except for CARDINAL -- conglomerates, pipelines, forestry products and real estate. PERSON led the strong side, followed by oils, banks and consumer products.
+Advancing stocks outpaced declines CARDINAL to CARDINAL with CARDINAL issues unchanged.
+Among the active issues, ORG jumped CARDINAL to CARDINAL on CARDINAL shares, as some investors laid bets on whether the junior miner would merge with ORG recently offered to partner with ORG to develop the huge Busang gold deposit in GPE. ORG is also bidding to develop the site with ORGHowever Bre-X's fate is in the hands of the NORP government, which has the final say on any deal. ORG shares soared CARDINAL to CARDINAL while ORG jumped CARDINAL to CARDINAL.
+ORG topped GPE's most actives, gaining CARDINAL to CARDINAL on CARDINAL shares.
+Potash Corp of ORG fell CARDINAL to CARDINAL after ORG cut its rating on Potash to market perform from buy.","- The chief financial officer of debt-ridden ORG, resigned suddenly DATE.
+PERSON, well-respected by analysts and considered a restraining force on flamboyant president PERSON, had been with the firm for DATE. He resigned to ""pursue other interests,"" the company said.
+""Of all the senior individuals who have left Rogers in recent times, the departure of ORG is the most detrimental to the company, given Savage is the man who has held it all together for DATE,"" said ORG analyst PERSON.
+Analyst PERSON at GPE's ORG said, ""This is not good for Rogers at all. I wouldn't be surprised if other people left.""
+Rogers, which also owns ORG, a wireless communications firm, has shed GPE and NORP assets in DATE in an attempt to cut its debts. Rogers piled up most of its debt load when it acquired ORG, along with the ORG group, for MONEY (MONEY).
+Total long-term debt grew to MONEY (MONEY) as of DATE from a DATE MONEY (MONEY).
+In DATE, PERSON had revenue of MONEY (MONEY).
+""PERSON was a pretty good guy. He was able to keep the wolves away as ... PERSON kept adding on assets. But I guess he finally realized that there's an end to the line,"" Drolet said.
+PERSON, vice-president of administration, will serve as acting chief financial officer until another is found, the company said.
+In a statement, PERSON said: ""We remain committed to the near-term financial priorities of improving our balance sheet and increasing revenues as we invest in new businesses.""
+Rogers' stock, after being halted TIME on ORG, fell MONEY to close at C$MONEY.
+In GPE, Rogers fell MONEY to $MONEY on ORG.",1
+"The mother of detained NORP dissident PERSON said on DATE she would defend her son in court against the capital charge of plotting to overthrow the government.
+""CARDINAL defence counsels are allowed...I will be CARDINAL of them,"" PERSON, a DATE researcher at a museum who has no background in law, told ORG in an interview.
+""PERSON also wants me to defend him,"" she said. NORP laws allow accused to be defended by family members.
+A court spokeswoman confirmed PERSON, DATE, had been charged with plotting to overthrow the government but declined to give further details.
+PERSON mother said the court had yet to inform her of the trial date, but said it could come DATE.
+She said she would defend her son against the charge of collaborating with overseas subversive forces.
+""This charge does not stand up,"" she said, adding that PERSON had only taken a correspondence course at ORG, in GPE.
+""It has nothing to do with politics. I was the one who wanted him to attend the course...It has nothing to do with overthrowing the government,"" she said.
+Asked to comment on the chances of winning, she said: ""I'm not optimistic. But I must say it for the record. This will become history.""
+Relatives said DATE they had found a lawyer willing to defend ORG after being given DATE to find one.
+The lawyer retained by the family would defend the dissident against other charges in the indictment.
+PERSON, former leader of the DATE pro-democracy demonstrations, has been charged with the capital offence of plotting to subvert the government, based on evidence such as writings critical of the state and accepting funds from abroad.
+He was detained by police in a raid on his home in DATE, but was not formally arrested or charged until DATE.
+On DATE, the family obtained a copy of the bill of indictment, which accused PERSON of plotting to subvert the government, a crime that carries a maximum penalty of death. The minimum sentence is DATE, although the court can show leniency if it finds extenuating circumstances.
+ORG has already served DATE in prison for counter-revolutionary crimes, or subversion, for his role in the DATE demonstrations centred in GPE's FAC, which were crushed by the army with heavy loss of life.
+ORG had been expected to face new charges since DATE, when the court that convicted veteran democracy activist PERSON of plotting to overthrow the government also implicated the former student leader.
+The court's verdict said PERSON, who was jailed for DATE, had links with people ""convicted of counter-revolutionary crimes, including PERSON"". It also referred to a tape-recorded conversation between ORG and PERSON, but gave no details.
+ORG had been active since his release from jail, defying persistent police surveillance and harassment to join in a daring appeal to communist leaders for the release of all those still in prison for their part in the DATE protests.","The father of NORP dissident PERSON protested his son's innocence on DATE, TIME before the start of the former student leader's trial, and said the family would not give in to the authorities.
+""He is definitely innocent,"" PERSON told reporters as he left his home to go to the court.
+The trial of PERSON, DATE, on the capital charge of plotting to overthrow the government was due to begin on DATE TIME at FAC.
+The public was effectively barred from the court, which was surrounded by police who had set up roadblocks across all major roads leading to the building.
+""It just depends on whether the government wants to convict him or not,"" PERSON told reporters.
+""I'm not optimistic about the results... We will definitely appeal... We will not give in,"" he said.
+""Speech can't overthrow the government,"" he said.
+The court charges against ORG say that his writings in foreign publications are part of evidence to back up the charge that he had tried to overthrow the government.
+His mother, PERSON, said on DATE she expected ORG to receive a harsh sentence although he would plead not guilty to the capital charge.
+She said court officials told her the verdict could be delivered as early as DATE or in DATE. Family members had been under surveillance for DATE, she added.
+The former student leader, who vanished into detention in DATE, faces a minimum DATE sentence and a maximum penalty of death.
+The GPE-based ORG said DATE the chances of acquittal were slim because ORG has not had adequate time to prepare a defence.
+His family found a lawyer willing to defend the dissident after being given just one day in which to do so.
+PERSON's mother, a DATE museum researcher who has no background in law, would attend the trial as CARDINAL of CARDINAL defence lawyers. His father and a sister would be allowed to sit in.
+The mother has said the dissident was calm and mentally prepared for a harsh sentence, although she has said his health had deteriorated since he was detained in DATE.
+Human Rights Watch attacked the trial on DATE as a sign of the NORP leadership's increasing intolerance of dissent.
+""The fact is that GPE's urban dissident movement...has in effect been comprehensively smashed,"" it said in a statement.
+""At least where political dissidents are concerned, all the judicial signs thus far point...to intensified repression by the country's state security forces,"" it said, calling for a freeze on trade missions from GPE, LOC, GPE and GPE.
+ORG's court appearance was expected to resemble the in-camera proceedings DATE against PERSON, regarded as the father of GPE's tiny, struggling democracy movement.
+ORG has already served DATE in prison for counter-revolutionary crimes, or subversion, for his role in pro-democracy demonstrations in GPE's FAC that were crushed by the army in DATE with heavy loss of life.
+He was politically active again after his parole in DATE, defying police surveillance to join a daring appeal to communist leaders for the release of those still jailed for their part in the DATE protests.
+GPE has recently cracked down on the few remaining dissidents who have not fled into exile or been jailed.",1
+"Shares in GPE's newly-demerged ORG rose on DATE as the stock market applauded the company's resilience to tougher conditions in the music market.
+ORG, which split from rentals company PERSON DATE, said profit before tax and exceptional items rose PERCENT to MONEY (MONEY) in DATE. Net interim dividend per share increased by PERCENT to MONEY.
+ORG shares, which have shed QUANTITY in DATE on fears that global music sales were faltering after DATE of strong growth, had added CARDINAL-1/2p to CARDINAL-1/2p by CARDINAL ORG after earlier climbing to 1290p.
+""These are excellent interim results from ORG,"" chairman Sir PERSON said in a statement.
+""They have been achieved against a background of variable growth in the major markets and mixed results from our competitors,"" he added. ""The increase in the interim dividend reflects our confidence in the long-term health of the music industry and ORG's position within it.""
+Analysts said that ORG appeared in better shape than some of its rivals in a patchy worldwide market.
+""What we have seen from their competitors was poor but ORG is insulated as it does not have so much exposure to the GPE,"" said media analyst PERSON of brokers Panmure PERSON, adding: ""They tend to be strong in the areas where the growth is coming through.""
+Panmure are forecasting DATE profit excluding exceptional items of MONEY and have a target share price of DATE.
+Finance Director PERSON said ORG remained confident that the global music business would continue to grow by some PERCENT DATE in the medium to long-term.
+""DATE is looking a little bit below that level,"" said Duffy, adding that markets were mixed but that overall ORDINAL half music sales growth had been PERCENT. However, he added that the impact for ORG was diluted by the strength of sterling.
+The market's sluggishness has recently been reflected by CARDINAL layoffs at various labels within ORG and CARDINAL job cuts at ORG -- CARDINAL other music majors.
+ORG said that sales in GPE were almost flat and declined slightly in GPE. But this was offset by improvements in GPE, GPE and GPE while LOC and LOC boasted particularly large gains.
+Turnover from the ORG division was down marginally at MONEY but analysts ascribed this to the effect of exchange rates. Better margins helped to boost operating profits in the ORG division to MONEY from CARDINAL.
+The ORG division, grouping record and book stores chains, had an operating loss of MONEY which the company said was in line with expectations.
+ORG said major releases for the key DATE included the ORDINAL and final ORG album, which entered the NORP charts at CARDINAL. It is also releasing a triple album from ORG as Prince and the debut from NORP newcomers ORG. ($MONEY Pound)","Glasgow-based ORG and NORP billionaire Prince PERSON are the likely purchasers of the GPE and Princess hotel chains from ORG, analysts said on DATE.
+NORP conglomerate ORG, in the throes of a demerger, said DATE it had received interest from potential buyers of the hotels and shelved plans to float them.
+The London DATE ORG reported on DATE that the sale of the chains for MONEY (MONEY) could be completed within the next fortnight. There was no immediate comment from ORG on the report.
+Stakis, which has some CARDINAL NORP hotels, has refused to comment on reports it planned to buy the CARDINAL GPE properties. But the hotels and casino group remains the clear favourite to clinch a deal.
+""It would be an excellent fit for PERSON. It's just the size of the deal that could cause concern,"" said analyst PERSON of ORG.
+Markets have speculated that PERSON was planning a rights issue to fund the purchase of the GPE hotels, valued at MONEY.
+The GPE group comprises CARDINAL business and conference hotels located in the NORP cities of GPE and GPE and the seaside towns of Brighton and Blackpool.
+ORGamp; PERSON, floated in GPE DATE, has effectively ruled itself out of the race. A company spokesman said ORG had looked at the GPE hotels but was not in talks to buy them.
+Meanwhile. Prince PERSON is believed to be negotiating the purchase of the NORP chain, CARDINAL properties of resorts in GPE, the LOC and GPE.
+Financial sources in the LOC told ORG DATE that PERSON had exclusive rights to negotiate a deal at a price of MONEY. The prince has major investments in GPE luxury FAC hotel, the ORG hotel group, in the banking group ORG and PERSON theme park.
+The hotel business is in a growth phase as economic recovery on both sides of the LOC help drive occupancy rates.
+But there have also been a glut of hotel companies coming to GPE's market, with ORG and ORG following the example of ORGamp; PERSON.
+And there are signs of investor indigestion, as witnessed by recent cancellations of stock market floats.
+Analysts said investors were now looking much more closely at the merits of individual companies but said they still expected the sector to remain positive into DATE.
+""Over DATE, people have become far more discerning about the type of hotel business they become involved in. But that does not mean they are reluctant to invest in the sector,"" said PERSON of ORG.
+And if that is the case, there is also no shortage of property on the market, with NORP media and leisure group ORG selling CARDINAL luxury hotels in GPE and overseas.  The hotels, known as the PRODUCT range, were acquired by ORG as part of the QUANTITY takeover of leading NORP hotelier PERSON DATE.
+NORP hotel companies PERSON and ORG are reportedly among potential purchasers for the chain. A deal is expected to be concluded around DATE.",1
+"Ontario Finance Minister PERSON, buoyed by a stronger economy and an improving deficit outlook, said on DATE his budget-paring knife would not cut as deep DATE.
+""I would say that the majority of the cost-cutting exercise this government has to do is behind us,"" Eves told reporters after delivering a fiscal update for DATE.
+Ontario's CARDINAL deficit is now pegged at MONEY for DATE, down MONEY from ORG' original budget forecast. GPE is GPE's most populous province and industrial powerhouse.
+DATE, GPE's ruling NORP said a further MONEY in spending cuts would be needed to balance the budget by DATE.
+Since sweeping to power in DATE promising LAW, the NORP have identified MONEY in cuts through DATE.
+With the economy now improving, Eves said: ""I don't feel that I am now driven to find MONEY in more savings.""
+ORG has predicted PERSON's economy would pick up steam DATE despite government cutbacks. The economy was forecast to grow PERCENT DATE and PERCENT in DATE, compared to PERCENT in DATE.
+But ORG said the province's deficit fight was far from over and he was still seeking ""cost efficiencies"" for the upcoming CARDINAL budget DATE.
+""I don't want anybody to think we don't have a problem. We still have a MONEY problem on annualized basis in the province of GPE,"" he said.
+Government revenues grew faster than projected in DATE, up MONEY for DATE. Most of the increase was due to higher than expected personal, corporate and retail sales tax revenues resulting from a stronger economy, ORG said.
+He said the government's controversial PERCENT tax cut had helped boost consumer confidence in GPE. CARDINAL of the tax reduction has been implemented, with PERCENT due by DATE.
+Eves said he had not ruled out speeding up that timetable, but that the government had a lot on its plate.
+DATE, the NORP unveiled sweeping reforms that would fundamentally alter the roles of provincial and local governments in everything from health care and social spending to road maintenance and sewage.
+The most controversial move is a proposed merger of GPE, GPE's biggest city, and CARDINAL surrounding municipalities, which has drawn fierce opposition from some local politicians and businesses.
+CIBC said the provincial government would better its fiscal targets after downloading services such as welfare and transit to municipalities. GPE is a potential loser under the plan because it has a large share of the province's welfare cases.
+Eves said the government would push forward with its plans and on DATE he doubled the government's restructuring fund to MONEY.
+""I think people realize we can't operate in DATE the way we operated in DATE in the province of Ontario. There is a transition and that transition costs money,"" he said.","As NORP telecoms titan ORG mulls an investment with ORG (BT) in GPE, analysts said on DATE any such deal would be a major coup for GPE's dominant telecoms operator.
+CARDINAL investment banker told ORG that ORG and ORG, the world's biggest telecoms company, had approached probably CARDINAL investment banks to evaluate an investment alongside ORG in the NORP telecoms market.
+""I am aware approaches have been made and I am also aware that strategically and commercially this is an opportunity which has been given a lot of attention within the senior management of ORG,"" he said.
+With further details largely confidential, the investment banker said only that ORG was also exploring whether to strengthen its QUANTITY (MONEY) investment in a PERCENT stake in GPE's new telecoms operator ORG.
+Cegetel, which was set up by ORG, is seen as the main rival to ORG.
+""What is being looked at these initial stages is much more to do with access to international traffic and strategically, from ORG's perspective, how it can enter the market,"" he said.
+BT declined to be drawn on reports that ORG was evaluating a QUANTITY (MONEY) investment -- or whether it would welcome such a link. But along with its NORP partner ORG, ORG has been openly courting ORG along with ORG for DATE.
+And major deal in GPE has become increasingly urgent since the ORG was DATE freed by the government to pursue international business.
+But a ORG spokesman would only say: ""If ORG have appointed investment bankers that is their decision.""
+All CARDINAL global telecoms alliances are vying to get a foothold in the lucrative NORP markets so that they can sell their services to multinational firms.
+""If BT were able to get ORG to take this step in GPE that would be a significant coup for BT because it would be the ORDINAL step towards tying them in to (ORG's) global PERSON alliance,"" said PERSON, telecoms analyst at ORG.
+""GPE is the last major frontier for the world telecoms companies...And if you're going to service multinationals, you've really got to be in GPE,"" he added.
+ORG is the obvious partner choice as it controls virtually all of the local network in GPE as well as having a large presence in LOC.
+And there are CARDINAL main global alliances eager to link up with the group; ORG and ORG's ORG, which incorporates ORG, Deutsche Telekom and GPE's ORG and GPE telecoms gaint ORG's loosely-knit global alliance.
+But while speculation is swirling that ORG may ORDINAL move in GPE, the investment banker said he would be surprised if the group wasn't looking for alliances right across LOC.
+GPE is one of the most important NORP markets, but companies such as GPE's STET are also looking to see whether they can forge international partnerships with other operators.
+""I would think ORG would be looking at a toe-hold in the top CARDINAL or CARDINAL markets in LOC,"" he said. ""(It seems) discussions within ORG have moved onto a more advanced stage and I would be surprised if their efforts were being focused exclusively on GPE. But that is pure speculation."" ($MONEY Pound)",0
+"Aiming to fill NORP' seemingly insatiable desire for sport utility vehicles, ORG  and ORG  both introduced new models of the go-anywhere vehicles DATE at ORG.
+The plush ORG and the brawny ORG PRODUCT were introduced DATE after ORG unit unveiled an upscale version of its popular ORG sport/utility vehicle and ORG, a unit of ORG  7270T, debuted a new sport/utility based on a passenger car chassis.
+Sport/utility vehicles sales climbed to CARDINAL in GPE in DATE and are the fastest-growing automotive segment.
+The vehicles are so popular that even sportscar maker ORG said DATE it also plans to enter the market by DATE.
+Although more and more companies are adding more and more models, the market is yet to be saturated, as more drivers foresake cars for the larger vehicles.
+""They really are considered substitutes,"" said PERSON, deputy chief economist at ORG ""These are replacing old station wagons. They're also eating very heavily into the luxury car markets.""
+Luxury is a key feature of the new ORG and ORG models.
+ORG's ORG, which is expected to be available in DATE, includes leather seating surfaces, walnut wood accents and ORDINAL row bucket seats.
+It is expected to be priced in the ORG range and will compete at the premium end of the market with vehicles by ORG and ORG. It is aimed at affluent empty nesters or high-profile active families. The target age for Navigator owners is DATE, said PERSON, general manager of ORG's ORG division.
+The vehicle, which ORG expects will sell CARDINAL DATE, was driven through a mock rock wall and waterfall to make its debut.
+The vehicle seats CARDINAL, has a QUANTITY V8 engine with QUANTITY towing capacity and QUANTITY of cargo space.
+ORG's PERSON, which is scheduled to be in production in  the DATE calendar year, features CARDINAL heated seats and a premium sound system, among other accessories.
+""We're certainly going upscale,"" PERSON, general manager of ORG's ORG division, said when asked about pricing. He declined to comment further.
+ORG made its typical auto show splash with the introduction of ORG, which broke through the floor of a mock-up of the automaker's new headquarters building.
+Touting it as a breakthrough vehicle that offers ""more of everything,"" ORG said sales could eventually reach CARDINAL units. The automaker invested MONEY to bring the vehicle to market.
+The ORG, which goes on sale in DATE, uses the same chassis and beefy front end as the ORG PRODUCT pickup truck. It is aimed at a more downscale audience than ORG's tony ORG. One unique feature is a rear cargo well sized to fit a hunting rifle.
+The vehicle is bigger than ORG's popular ORG, but smaller than the ORG, ORG and ORG.
+Durango features an optional ORDINAL bench seat, boosting its seating capacity up to CARDINAL people.
+Despite growing criticism about sport/utilities' poor fuel economy, the ORG offers the biggest engines in its class, including QUANTITY and QUANTITY V8s.
+Pricing was not announced, but ORG Vice Chairman PERSON said the ORG could be made with a CARDINAL-cylinder engine, if necessary.
+With so many new sport/utility vehicles entering the market, it is becoming more competitive, which will eventually lead to pressure on margins.
+""We'll get saturation if people can't afford to buy these things, relative to the cars they drive,"" said PERSON, analyst at ORG.
+Demand for more affordable sport/utilities will push manufacturers to build them on car platforms, as ORG, ORG and ORG are doing, GPE said, adding that few drivers travel far off road and don't need the ruggedness and high ground clearance of a truck-based sport/utility.
+Executives at the Big Three automakers stress that their new sport/utility vehicles will not compete with existing lines.
+""We don't think this will be a major drag at all on ORG,"" O'Connor said of ORG's current top-of-the-line sport utility vehicle. Instead, he said the Navigator should attract new customers to ORG.
+""I think it will bring a whole new customer to ORG,"" he said.
+But the automakers also know that if they don't offer sport/utility vehicles in a variety of niches, others will.
+""I'd rather have the alternative be in my dealer"" showroom, said ORG's ORG.
+As for ORG, Chairman PERSON would not go into specifics on the NORP automaker's plans in the sector, other than to say it was in discussions with a ORDINAL party.","ORG said DATE it found problems in its bookkeeping that caused it to overstate earnings by MONEY over DATE and that its chief accountant had apparently disappeared.
+The ORG, Ill.-based finance company said the irregularities appear to have come from unauthorised entries in financial records by its chief accounting officer.
+The company said a special committee of the board has been formed to investigate with legal and accounting experts.
+The accountant, PERSON, was last seen at the company on DATE, DATE it reported DATE results, ORG spokesman PERSON said.
+""He called DATE and said he would not be in for personal reasons,"" GPE said. ""They haven't seen him since.""
+PERSON's whereabouts were unknown.
+The problems may jeopardise ORG's planned acquisition of ORG, a consumer finance company, from ORG in a MONEY deal announced on DATE.
+DATE's announcement caught the financial community by surprise, with analysts unwilling to comment after ORG's statement, saying they were still trying to gather information.
+As a result of the adjustments, shareholders' equity as of DATE, would be reduced from MONEY, the company said.
+As a result of the overstatement of earnings, ORG said it is in violation of some of its debt agreements and was negotiating with lenders.
+It said its financial condition remained strong and would support continuing operations and its expansion plans.
+ORG said it would await the results of the accounting investigation before proceeding with the sale of ORG. ORG said it was optimistic about completing the deal.
+ORG said DATE net income would be restated to MONEY from MONEY, DATE profits would be cut to MONEY from MONEY and DATE earnings would be MONEY instead of the MONEY originally reported.
+In addition, DATE profits would be trimmed to MONEY from MONEY.
+ORG stock was halted all day on ORG. It closed DATE at $MONEY.
+ORG cut its rating on ORG's short-term borrowings and ORGamp; Poor's said it may lower its rating.
+ORG suffered another blow DATE, when PERSON, chairman of the company since it went public in DATE, died in DATE.",1
+"Water filtration company PERSON is confident the failure of its planned MONEY takeover bid for GPE medical filtration company ORG will not affect earnings or its GPE expansion plans.
+NORP chairman PERSON told ORG in a telephone interview from GPE that a compensation clause in the original takeover deal negotiated with Gelman meant it would not affect NORP's earnings in DATE.  
+""There were clauses in the contract that compensated us for our effort,"" ORG said.
+""It will have no impact on our normal earnings,"" he said.
+In DATE, ORG said it had agreed to be taken over by the ORG-listed NORP, which offered CARDINAL NORP ORG (ORG) for each Gelman share.
+The offer than valued each ORG share at MONEY a share, but NORP's share price fell after the DATE announcement and the agreement included a clause allowing Gelman to renegotiate or terminate the deal if NORP's share price fell below US$MONEY.  
+On DATE, ORG agreed to a takeover bid by fellow filtration company ORG, which valued ORG's shares at US$MONEY per share and effectively trumped NORP's bid.
+NORP then said on DATE it would not increase its bid and that the original merger agreement had been terminated.
+ORG said he and NORP's management had spent DATE preparing for the ORG takeover and organising a roadshow promoting the bid, but that NORP had been compensated for the costs involved.
+He said PERSON's likely growth in GPE DATE would not be affected by failure of the deal.  
+""DATE the growth we'll probably see will still be PERCENT without this deal,"" he said.
+NORP remained on the lookout for expansion opportunities in GPE, particularly in the medical filtration sector.
+""We see many ways of getting into the medical market there,"" he said, adding however that he could not be specific about how NORP would increase its presence.
+Gelman makes microfiltration products for laboratories, healthcare, environmental monitoring, high-technology process industries and other uses.  
+The end of the ORG deal has pleased shareholders however, with NORP's shares jumping A$MONEY to A$MONEY by DATE's close from its A$MONEY level on DATE.
+NORP had been MONEY in DATE.
+-- ORG CARDINAL-2 9373-1812","Investors pushed ORG shares higher DATE, a sign that Wall Street is pleased that the auto giant signed a new national labour agreement that allows it to shed some workers.
+ORG's shares traded up $MONEY at $MONEY in late trading on ORG after the company signed the tentative agreement with ORG union TIME.
+""The Wall Street reaction reflects some belief that ORG didn't cave in,"" said ORG auto analyst PERSON. ""ORG appears to have retained its right to manage and indulge in some outsourcing.""
+Analysts said the pact will allow ORG to reduce its CARDINAL-member TIME work force by CARDINAL or more during DATE through normal retirements.
+The pact contains a nominal guarantee that ORG maintain employment of PERCENT of its current work force -- a pattern set in the ORG and ORG agreements -- but it also allows ORG to exit some unprofitable parts businesses and sell certain components plants.
+PERSON, director of ORG, said he believes the pact will help ORG to to boost efficiency.
+""ORG can use attrition to shrink its work force and take advantage of productivity improvements,"" PRODUCT said. ""The ORG has as much interest in a competitive ORG as the shareholders do.""
+But the positive reaction was tempered by a continuing strike at ORG's GPE, GPE, truck assembly plant, where CARDINAL workers walked off the job DATE over demands for more jobs.
+The plant makes ORG, ORG and ORG sport/utilities, which are among ORG's most popular -- and most profitable -- vehicles. ORG wants ORG to hire more workers in GPE to reduce the strain of heavy overtime and an increasing workload.
+On DATE, members of ORG returned to work at a key metal stamping plant in GPE after ratifying a settlement on a new local contract.
+The union members had struck for DATE, shutting off shipments of fenders, doors, hoods and other steel body panels to CARDINAL of ORG's CARDINAL NORP light truck assembly plants.
+By DATE, strike-caused parts shortages forced ORG to shut down factories in GPE, GPE, GPE, GPE, GPE, GPE, and GPE, GPE
+ORG said ORG plants are scheduled to resume normal operations DATE, while GPE and ORG will be running again by DATE.
+DATE, the ORG walkouts and lingering parts shortages from DATE ORG strike had idled CARDINAL ORG workers in GPE.
+ORG did not say how many workers were still idle, but added that CARDINAL car plants stricken by the ORG strike will be back to full production by DATE, including GPE; GPE, GPE; and FAC, GPE
+GPE estimated that between the CARDINAL walkouts, ORG's production losses will total CARDINAL cars and trucks, which will slash the company's DATE profits by MONEY.
+In contrast to the tense atmosphere that continues to surround the ORG labour situation, ORG President PERSON and ORG Chairman PERSON signed a new DATE contract in an historic ceremony at the union's GPE headquarters.
+The signing marked the ORDINAL time that a Big Three automaker has signed a new labour accord at the ORG's ORG.
+Yokich and GPE were in a jovial mood as they signed the pact -- a stark contrast to the separate, grim-faced news conferences where the ORG and ORG announced their deal TIME.
+Yokich told reporters the ORG signing ""shows that this company recognises the union and wants to work with them.""
+Meanwhile, ORG declared an unchanged DATE dividend of MONEY a share on its MONEY par value common stock.
+Some analysts had expected ORG's board of directors to increase the annual payout to $MONEY a share from $MONEY because of its growing cash pile. But ORG analyst PERSON said the board did not want to disrupt the ORG pact's ratification by giving more cash to shareholders.",0
+"GPE's commercial television watchdog on DATE invited applications to run terrestrial frequencies which will multiply the number of channels available to viewers in the new digital age.
+""This is DATE for GPE viewers...CARDINAL or CARDINAL channels could be available on digital terrestrial television,"" said PERSON, chief executive of ORG (ORG).
+The ORG is seeking applications to operate CARDINAL ""multiplexes"", as the blocks of frequencies are known. Each block can carry CARDINAL digital channels.
+The ORG has already been earmarked its own multiplex, and commercial networks ORG and ORG will share one.
+The ORG will award the DATE licences on critieria including speed of roll-out of the service and the appeal of programming but a cash bid will not be required. Licences are expected to be awarded DATE and broadcasting could begin by DATE.
+GPE is leading the way in the development of digital terrestrial but some observers question whether it will succeed.
+Pay television operator PERSON, in which PERSON ORG is the largest shareholder, plans to launch a digital satellite service into GPE in DATE -- DATE of the terrestrial version.
+The satellite version could offer CARDINAL channels and BSkyB's control of key movie and sporting rights are likely to make it an attractive proposition.
+The ORG's Rogers told a news conference he was confident the terrestrial option would prove attractive to investors.
+""I would be surprised and disappointed if we didn't have applications for all of the multiplexes,"" he said.
+His view was shared by PERSON, a media expert at consultancy and accounting firm ORG.
+""Most people perceive digital bandwith to be valuable so I think there will be interest in the multiplexes,"" he said.
+""This will not be an overnight sensation but a business to be built,"" he said, identifying ORG companies, cable groups and BSkyB itself as potential licence applicants.
+ORG technology increases the number of channels which can be transmitted and enhances sound and picture quality. it also enables interactive services such as home shopping and home banking to be created.
+ORG means converting sound and pictures into binary digits -- a series of noughts and ones -- rather than transmitting them as electric signals as now happens. A set-top box or ""decoder"" will be required to receive digital services.
+This is also a source of controversy, as ORG officials admit that there is no current GPE or NORP legislation to enforce a common standard for decoders.
+That means that consumers could theoretically have to pay MONEY) for a set-top box to receive BSkyB's digital services and then have to buy a ORDINAL box DATE to receive digital terrestrial.
+NORP Labour Euro MP PERSON on DATE wrote to NORP Commissioner PERSON to demand that all set-top boxes provide a common interface for all broadcasters.","ORG GPE's home of soccer since DATE, will be the site of a new national stadium, the country's ORG announced on DATE.
+The government-backed ORG selected the north GPE venue ahead of the northern city of Manchester as the preferred location. MONEY (MONEY) in ORG funding will be supplied to help turn the famous old stadium into a world class sports facility for DATE.
+PERSON and WORK_OF_ART were selected as the CARDINAL leading candidates from CARDINAL applicants DATE. ORG chairman Sir PERSON said that PERSON won out as it had greater potential to attract major international events.
+ORG has supported ORG bid to host soccer's EVENT in DATE and ORG attempts to attract the world championships in DATE.
+But Manchester did not lose out completely as ORG announced it had agreed in principle to provide up to 60 million pounds towards a new FAC to be used to host ORG in DATE, which have already been awarded to the city.
+It said it would also consider backing ORG bid for QUANTITY in funding for a new swimming and diving complex in the city, another LOC facility.
+""ORG has agreed a CARDINAL package of financial support which will provide further opportunities for LANGUAGE and NORP sport to develop as a leading competitor on the world stage,"" Walker said.
+A competition is to be held to select an architectural firm to design ORG at the site owned by PERSON.
+Architect Sir PERSON has already unveiled his radical plans for an CARDINAL-seater stadium.
+In his design, PERSON's famous twin towers would be repositioned to form a new gateway to the stadium area. The stadium would also be spun round QUANTITY with a new LOC axis.
+The Foster design also includes plans for retractable seating to allow spectators at field events like soccer and rugby league close proximity to the action. The seats would be moved back when track events were being held. ($MONEY Pound)",1
+"Thumbing its nose at GPE, GPE brought GPE elected legislature a step closer to oblivion on DATE when it founded a new lawmaking body to take over DATE when it takes back the colony.
+The birth of ORG in the frontier city of GPE brought GPE to a crucial turning point in its journey towards NORP rule at DATE and opened the way for a possible clash in the world court.
+The body, stuffed with pro-China politicians and tycoons, was attacked by GPE, GPE and local protesters. GPE challenged GPE to let ORG in GPE rule on its legality.
+The legislative body is a big crease in NORP relations that could cause instability in the territory in the run-up to the handover, now DATE away.
+The speaker of GPE ORG and CARDINAL other incumbent lawmakers were among the CARDINAL members chosen by a CARDINAL-member GPE-controlled ORG.
+Congratulating the CARDINAL, NORP Foreign Minister PERSON declared the contest had been ""just, fair, open and based on democratic principles"" and had the approval of a wide spectrum of GPE society.
+PERSON, recently expelled from ORG, GPE largest, also grabbed a seat. ORG has boycotted the selection as anti-democratic.
+The winners included pro-China politicians such as PERSON, PERSON and PERSON, who were routed in DATE Legco elections when CARDINAL people went to the polls and voted resoundingly for pro-democracy forces.
+Pro-democracy groups staged noisy protests in GPE declaring the GPE meeting a ""fake election"" and a ""black day for democracy"". They launched CARDINAL helium-filled balloons into GPE with a protest banner attached.
+""DATE we will have CARDINAL legislatures...This is a constitutional crisis,"" said ORG PERSON, a current legislator.
+GPE's communist rulers are bent on imposing themselves firmly on GPE and on ending DATE of national shame over the forced cession of the territory to GPE in DATE wars over the opium trade.
+Governor PERSON, who has introduced elements of democracy in this territory of CARDINAL people over DATE, denounced the GPE vote as a ""bizarre farce"".
+""The reality is that over a million people in GPE voted for the present ORG. And up over the border now, CARDINAL people -- CARDINAL -- are voting for a so-called provisional legislature,"" PERSON said on DATE.
+PERSON, a GPE member of GPE's parliament -- ORG -- and ORG, dissented and stayed away from the vote.
+""I am sick. This is the official reason from the point of view of ORG. But I know, and I don't mind letting the world know, the real reason is that I don't agree to the establishment of the provisional legislature,"" she said.
+DATE she took part in the committee's ORDINAL task, selecting shipping magnate PERSON as PERSON's successor.
+Tung dismissed GPE's suggestion of world court arbitration on DATE, saying: ""We cannot have a legal vacuum in DATE. This is a great day for GPE.""
+GPE's official spokesman in GPE, PERSON, said GPE's challenge would not undermine the provisional legislature's authority.
+""Establishing the provisional legislature is an internal affair of GPE. If GPE demands international arbitration it is absurd and ignorant,"" Zhang told the Mad Dog Daily.
+ORG in GPE, PERSON, called the legislature vote ""a backward step"".
+""We think it's a bad idea and a mistake,"" PERSON said. ""I don't think we would describe it as an open and fair election which is an essential part of GPE future stability and future business environment.""
+ORG leader PERSON has vowed to seek a court injunction against the provisional body if it meets in GPE before DATE.
+""If this sham legislature is lawful, why not appoint it and have it meet in GPE, where ORG can decide on its legality,"" PERSON said on DATE.","PERSON executives considered using additives to enhance the nicotine kick of cigarettes and also considered beefing up marketing to teenagers, according to a summary of documents that the company's parent turned over in a GPE lawsuit.
+PERSON, a unit of ORG, said DATE it turned over the documents to GPE state lawyers in connection with a lawsuit the state has filed against tobacco companies to recover state money spent on treating smoking-related illnesses.
+Along with other tobacco companies, PERSON is being sued by GPE and CARDINAL other states to recover MONEY spent treating smoking-related illnesses. Trials those lawsuits are scheduled DATE in GPE, GPE and GPE.
+PERSON said it expected anti-tobacco information to be leaked selectively to news organisations by opposing lawyers and was releasing CARDINAL potentially damaging short excerpts from the CARDINAL pages of documents with its own explantions.
+The company said it would not release the full documents.
+It said CARDINAL documents it turned over to GPE lawyers under court order suggested that the company in DATE studied adding ammonia compounds to increase the effects of nicotine from cigarette smoking.
+If ammonia were ""found to make desirable contributions to the physiological satisfactions derived from smoking, we will want to optimize this effect in existing and/or new products,"" the company quoted CARDINAL DATE company document as saying.
+Cigarette makers have long denied that they tried to manipulate the nicotine effects from their products.
+PERSON said the research was carried out when the industry and others thought low-tar cigarettes with heightened nicotine kicks would be less harmful to smokers.
+PERSON deputy general counsel PERSON said he expected the GPE lawyers to use the documents to try to bolster claims that the company was manipulating nicotine to hook smokers.
+Anti-tobacco activists have repeatedly accused the industry of manipulating nicotine levels.
+ORG Cos. Inc., the world's biggest cigarette maker and producer of ORG and other brands, won a large settlement and an on-air apology from the ORG television network for a news story suggesting it manipulated nicotine content in its cigarettes.
+PERSON also quoted from a DATE memo sent by a marketing executive to the chairman stating that market share among smokers aged DATE was falling while ORG share was growing.
+""Hopefully our various planned activities that will be implemented DATE will aid in some way in reducing or correcting those trends,"" the official wrote.
+Donohue described the memo as shorthand and said it in no way suggested ORG worked to sell cigarettes to teenagers. He said company data on young smokers was collected as a by-product of market research on adults.
+ORG issued new rules DATE meant to curb sales to underage smokers, but the industry is challenging the rules.
+PERSON said it was releasing the excerpts because it expected the memos and studies to be leaked and reported by journalists without full context.
+""PERSON picked, leaked documents do not reflect the totality of our company's positions, strategies and marketplace efforts,"" PERSON, a spokeswoman for ORG, said in a statement.
+GPE Attorney General PERSON said the company was misleading the public by complaining of alleged selective leaks by anti-tobacco lawyers.
+""The vast majority of documents cannot be made public due to a protective order demanded by the tobacco industry,"" he said in a news release.
+""If the tobacco industry truly wanted the public to know the whole truth, it would waive this protective order .... I challenge them to do so.""
+A trial in the GPE lawsuit is set for DATE, ORG spokesman PERSON said.",0
+"ORG is planning to place a long-awaited order for MONEY worth of ORG airplanes, according to reports published DATE.
+Airline Chairman PERSON was scheduled to make a ""major company announcement"" at a news conference DATE.
+Officials of ORG and NORP declined to comment on the order, reported in ORG and ORG, although an airline spokesman confirmed that directors of its parent company, ORG, were meeting.
+According to the reports, NORP will announce an order for CARDINAL new ORG jets, including CARDINAL wide-body 777s and CARDINAL narrow-body 737s.
+Although NORP officials have said privately they have chosen ORG for their fleet modernisation programme, the exact size of the initial order has not been revealed.
+The orders are expected to be contingent on ratification by pilots of a new DATE contract, which could be put to a vote DATE. The board of the pilots union was voting DATE on a tentative labour pact reached in DATE.
+Industry analysts saw the order as a signal NORP could order CARDINAL of ORG jets over DATE as it updates and expands its fleet, now a mix of planes built by ORG, ORG, ORG and ORG.
+""I think basically this is a commitment to the ORG family,"" analyst PERSON of ORG said.
+""If you look at their fleet, they (NORP) have kind of a hodgepodge of things,"" he said. ""I think you can make the case that most of the airplanes they will be buying in the future will be these ORG models.""
+NORP currently does not operate the PRODUCT, which seats from CARDINAL to CARDINAL passengers and initially will be used to replace the CARDINAL older CARDINAL jets used by the airline.
+But analysts said that over DATE NORP likely will buy more 737s to replace its fleet of CARDINAL ageing ORG jets.
+NORP already has announced plans to sell most of its wide-body MD-11 jets to ORG for use as cargo jets, and analysts said ORG's CARDINAL would be a likely replacement choice suitable for the carrier's potential expansion in LOC.
+Analyst PERSON of ORG said NORP, the nation's No. CARDINAL airline by revenue, appears to be turning over ""the whole fleet to ORG aircraft.""
+""It's a huge fleet,"" he said. ""Over DATE there's going to be a lot MONEY in planes delivered.""
+For beleaguered ORG, the decision would be yet another blow for a company that has acknowledged it will be only a niche player in the commercial aircraft market and DATE was knocked out of contention for the ORG's biggest weapons programme of DATE, a jet fighter.
+Analysts said they still expect a big fleet-renewal order from No. CARDINAL carrier ORG, which could go at least partly to ORG.
+""Somewhere along the line this is going to bubble over in ORG favour,"" GPE said.
+Other major GPE carriers already have announced their intentions to buy new airplanes now that the industry has returned to financial health after a long downturn.
+DATE, ORG chose LOC's ORG to supply it with narrow-body jets in an order that could be worth MONEY over DATE. The carrier is negotiating with ORG and ORG for new wide-body jets.
+ORG stock rose $MONEY to $MONEY DATE and ORG stock was off MONEY at $MONEY, both on ORG.","ORG stock is DATE near where it began -- at slightly MONEY a share.
+But after adjusting for a stock split, the value of those shares is up a stunning PERCENT, and company chairman PERSON, the richest man in GPE, has seen his stake rise to MONEY from MONEY.
+While analysts are not predicting ORG will repeat that performance in DATE, the computer software giant carries a lot of momentum into DATE.
+The company will start DATE by launching the latest version of ORG -- its biggest revenue producer -- and plans to flesh out its package of computer network software for the red-hot Internet market.
+A new Internet browser due by DATE will change the look of the computer desktop, and upgrades to both of ORG's core PRODUCT operating systems could be out by DATE.
+ORG's high-end Windows NT system, which failed to catch on when it was launched in DATE, now forms the core of a business that could account for PERCENT of the company's estimated MONEY in revenues in DATE.
+""The fundamentals are strong and getting stronger,"" said PERSON, an analyst with brokerage ORG.
+On average, analysts expect ORG's earnings to rise PERCENT to $MONEY a share in DATE from $MONEY DATE and then PERCENT in DATE to $MONEY a share, according to ORG service.
+While that falls well short of DATE PERCENT earnings gain, it still represents a hefty increase for a MONEY company, and ORG has a way of pleasantly surprising Wall Street with its earnings growth DATE.
+Analysts say ORG shows no signs of growing complacent despite holding a market share of PERCENT or more in its main businesses of personal computer operating systems and productivity applications.
+In DATE alone the company virtually has tried to reinvent itself to focus on the rapidly growing Internet marketplace and beat back rivals led by ORG
+""They've done a fabulous job. They've changed themselves from a company that was threatened by the Internet to one whose future is dependent on the Internet,"" said analyst PERSON of ORG, a research and consulting company.
+Virtually all ORG's upcoming products have strong Internet tie-ins: from the Office 97 upgrade, which makes word-processing and spreadsheet applications more compatible with Internet protocols, to server, or computer network, software in its ORG line that helps companies do business over the Internet.
+ORG is spending MONEY DATE on media-related projects, including its relaunched ORG online service and ORG joint news venture with ORG.
+While some of the projects could lose money for DATE to come, analysts say the media efforts represent a classic example of ORG' fondness for making big bets -- in this case, for a chance at a piece of online transaction fees that ultimately could be huge.
+""If they are successful in pursuing their vision, this will be their core business DATE from now,"" said PERSON, analyst with brokerage PERSON.
+""It's analogous to the early work they did with Windows itself,"" he said. ""You start small and you keep chipping away.""",1
+"A GPE-wide computer network launched by a subsidiary of the official news agency ORG on DATE will take NORP businesses online and supply them with news and economic information, company officials said.
+The China Wide Web (CWW) created by ORG would provide NORP customers with online services in their own language and would give overseas subscribers a window on to the NORP business world, company chairman PERSON said.
+""Our objective is to increase understanding of GPE,"" GPE Internet chief technology officer ORG told a news conference in GPE to announce the service's inauguration.
+ORG would use technology developed for the World Wide Web, part of the global Internet computer network, to supply news from international economic information providers such as ORG and GPE, PERSON said.
+GPE Internet was a GPE-registered company majority-owned by GPE's official ORG, PERSON said. He declined to give details of the other investors in the firm.
+In DATE, ORG was appointed the government regulator for foreign suppliers of economic information in GPE, a role that some analysts say clashes with its involvement in enterprises that supply financial and business data.
+ORG's regulatory role and GPE Internet's quasi-monopoly position in the market would help boost the computer company's already bright prospects, said PERSON of ORG, which has a stake in GPE Internet.
+Unlike the open-access Internet, ORG was modelled on internal company networks or ""intranets"", PERSON said.
+""There will be a lot of real-time information available,"" he said. ""I think there's going to be very fast growth from a CARDINAL start.""
+GPE Internet would enjoy free use of ORG's communications network and already had access agreements with the powerful ORG, he said.
+Ma said domestic economic information would also be available through ORG services and databases. He declined to say how many clients were expected to subscribe.
+The Internet is viewed by some NORP officials as a haven for pornography and political dissent but ORG would likely be a politically correct alternative.
+""ORG should reflect NORP culture,"" technology officer PERSON said, without giving details.
+ORG would build bilingual online home pages for domestic firms and foreign companies in GPE and would work to boost foreign understanding of the NORP market, he said.
+""If a GPE company wants to show its wares on the NORP Internet, we will translate it so the NORP can understand... and vice versa,"" PERSON said.","A NORP court took TIME on DATE to convict prominent dissident and former student leader PERSON of plotting to overthrow the government and sentenced him to DATE in prison.
+EVENT found ORG guilty of conspiring to subvert the NORP government, the ORG said. He faced a maximum penalty of death.
+""Sufficient evidence, which includes written materials, witness accounts, recorded tape and criminal technical appraisal, were shown at the court,"" ORG quoted the judge as saying after the trial.
+PERSON, DATE, was also deprived of his political rights for DATE, ORG said, quoting the verdict.
+""ORG candidly confessed his activities,"" ORG said, adding that he received funds from overseas hostile forces, gave financial aid to families of jailed dissidents and tried to set up an ""opposition force"" by uniting illegal organisations.
+Charges against ORG were backed by testimony by another dissident, PERSON, ORG said. It did not elaborate. PERSON was sent DATE to a labour camp for DATE.
+""His criminal fact is clear, and the evidence is conclusive,"" ORG said quoting the verdict against ORG. ""He instigated people by saying that 'It is time we turn our words into actions'.""
+The verdict was issued TIME after the trial began. Foreign reporters and legal experts were barred from attending the trial in western GPE.
+Security was tight around the court building, with CARDINAL of police preventing the public from approaching the building.
+Earlier on DATE, the dissident's father said the family would appeal if ORG were convicted.
+""We will definitely appeal... We will not give in,"" PERSON told reporters TIME before the start of the proceedings.
+""He is definitely innocent,"" he said as he left his home with the dissident's mother, PERSON, to go to the court.
+""Speech can't overthrow the government,"" he said.
+ORG's mother, a DATE museum researcher who has no background in law, attended the trial as CARDINAL of CARDINAL defence lawyers. His father and a sister were allowed to sit in.
+PERSON said on DATE she expected ORG to receive a harsh sentence although he would plead not guilty.
+The mother had said the dissident was calm and mentally prepared for a harsh sentence, although she has said his health had deteriorated since he vanished into detention in DATE.
+PERSON faced a minimum DATE sentence and a maximum penalty of death.
+The GPE-based ORG said DATE the chances of acquittal were slim because ORG has not had adequate time to prepare a defence.
+Human Rights Watch attacked the trial on DATE as a sign of the NORP leadership's increasing intolerance of dissent.
+ORG has already served DATE in prison for counter-revolutionary crimes, or subversion, for his role in pro-democracy demonstrations in GPE's FAC that were crushed by the army in DATE with heavy loss of life.
+He was politically active again after his parole in DATE, defying police surveillance to join a daring appeal to communist leaders for the release of those still jailed for their part in the DATE protests.
+GPE has recently cracked down on the few remaining dissidents who have not fled into exile or been jailed.",1
+"NORP President PERSON decreed an economic emergency on DATE, warning that the ""economic and social stability of the country"" was under threat.
+In a televised speech to the nation, PERSON called for urgent belt-tightening measures to cut the central government's yawning fiscal deficit.
+The economic emergency, the ORDINAL in DATE, has been decreed for DATE but could be extended for a maximum of DATE, presidential sources said. All measures in that period can be introduced without the approval of ORG.
+Further austerity measures are scheduled to be announced on DATE, government sources said.
+Finance Minister PERSON later announced the ORDINAL series of concrete measures aimed at slashing GPE's foreign debt by MONEY DATE.
+PERSON, head of the CARDINAL-strong FENALTRASE public sector union, said he feared the government could use crisis powers to cut CARDINAL state jobs in DATE. The union was protesting against a PERCENT weighted pay increase, well below DATE inflation, announced DATE.
+""We had initially been planning to launch a stoppage around DATE but this decree could force us to bring those plans radically forward. We could start a strike as early as DATE,"" PERSON said.
+Anticipating the unions' reaction, PERSON said in his televised speech: ""I want to warn you once and for all. Protests and strikes will lead nowhere -- quite simply because although the government has all the goodwill in the world, it is short of money.""
+""If the fiscal, exchange rate and unemployment situation continue to deteriorate, the social and economic order will seriously and ostensibly worsen... The economic stability of the country will be severely affected,"" the decree signed by PERSON and his cabinet said.
+The crisis measure comes against the backdrop of a sharp economic slowdown in DATE, coupled with a steady strengthening of the country's peso currency, which has undermined export activities. The government fiscal deficit has burgeoned and hit PERCENT of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in DATE up from PERCENT in DATE.
+In the ORDINAL of the specific emergency measures, finance chief PERSON said the planned issuance of MONEY in foreign debt bonds would be reduced by MONEY.
+He announced an overall cut in the national debt programme and unveiled a new tax on private and public companies which looked abroad for fresh loans.
+Ocampo said the emergency measures, coupled with income from a recent wave of power plant privatisations, would help to cut the government deficit to PERCENT of gross domestic product in DATE, compared to an initial forecast of PERCENT.","CARDINAL people were killed and scores more injured on DATE TIME when a powerful bomb ripped through a building in GPE, the main town of GPE's northwest GPE province, police said.
+The blast occurred at TIME (DATE ORG) at the headquarters of the PERSON, a fund set up to promote cattle-ranching in the province. Police said they did not know the motive behind the attack.
+The explosion came DATE after a QUANTITY (QUANTITY) car bomb went off in GPE, killing a woman and injuring CARDINAL people. Authorities blamed that attack on drug traffickers in league with leftist guerrillas.
+Armed left and right-wing groups are waging a fierce battle in northwest GPE where both blasts occurred.
+""I cannot say yet who was responsible for this attack,"" provincial governor PERSON told reporters. ""Everybody must be on their guard.""
+He said an emergency meeting of the provincial security council, which includes the military and the police, would be called to analyse the situation.
+The blast in the downtown area of the small town was the ORDINAL in GPE in DATE. An QUANTITY (QUANTITY) bomb, hidden in a street vendor's cart, exploded outside the town's police headquarters on DATE, injuring CARDINAL people in an attack that was blamed on ORG (FARC), the largest guerrilla movement.
+It is not clear whether DATE's bomb was linked to a communique issued DATE by a hitherto unknown group calling itself the Special Anti-paramilitary Commando.
+The group, claiming to be made up of ex-rebels who had previously given up armed struggle, declared war on the country's burgeoning right-wing paramilitary gangs. Human rights groups accuse cattle ranchers of backing them.
+Defence Minister PERSON said, however, that he believed DATE's attack in GPE was retaliation for approval DATE by ORG of a new law to strip drug lords of their MONEY fortunes.
+GPE's main cities, and particularly GPE, were scarred by a drug-fuelled campaign of bombings, assassinations and kidnappings in DATE when cocaine kingpin ORG waged war on the state in a successful bid to ban the extradition of NORP to GPE.",1
+"NORP communities across the globe will soon have their very own high-society magazine, rivalling the standards of glamour publications such as ORG and ORG.
+Imagine a world-class magazine which combines the flair and colour visuals of the GPE Architectural Digest and the  ORG magazine. None of it is in LANGUAGE but in LANGUAGE. ""The NORP"" will hit the newsstands on DATE.
+With editorial operations based in GPE, the magazine is owned by GPE-based ORG and Manager ORG, which publish ORG DATE and the DATE ORG in LANGUAGE.
+The group's chairman, PERSON, a NORP with ORDINAL generation NORP ancestry, is extending his reach to rich ethnic NORP readers and to the regional magazine sector.
+The publication, with a launch circulation target of CARDINAL copies, comes at a time of ballooning interest, fuelled by the sudden growth of GPE itself, in the diaspora of overseas NORP communities, from LOC to GPE and GPE, to GPE, GPE and GPE.
+A rash of books has been published lately on this powerful diaspora of NORP, many of whom descend from merchants who migrated from GPE centuries ago and who, together with more recent migrants, form a ""bamboo network"" of CARDINAL people.
+""A lot of NORP DATE are at the cutting edge of many industries and want a magazine to rediscover ourselves, to tell our own story in our own words, in our own pictures,"" editorial director PERSON said.
+GPE-born PERSON, a PERSON prize-winning former wire service photographer acclaimed for his photo coverage of GPE, GPE, GPE, is the magazine's driving force.
+""I think many people like me feel ashamed when they pick up a NORP magazine, because it's never quite there,"" said PERSON.
+""There's nothing really to buy. Just political magazines for dissidents. When you read them it's frustrating. The news is always sandwiched in between lots of CARDINAL-truths,"" he said.
+The publication targets a niche of well-heeled NORP professionals or company owners, aged DATE, mainly overseas educated, with an DATE personal income of MONEY or a household income of MONEY.
+""Ethnic NORP will form the most powerful network of entrepreneurs in the world in DATE. CARDINAL ethnic NORP worldwide, with assets of MONEY) are the most successful entrepreneurs in the world,"" writes PERSON, author of a recent book, LOC.
+Features on the rich and famous personalities such as high-flying socialite PERSON, actress PERSON, publisher and entrepreneur PERSON, as well as up-and-coming NORP like GPE catwalk model PERSON, will be the magazine's staple diet.
+It will be illustrated by bold colour visuals and advertisements for the flashy, expensive brand names for which NORP around the world have a passion.
+The NORP diaspora forms powerful business networks, bonded by a unique sense of being NORP even if not citizens of a NORP state.
+CARDINAL of of CARDINAL of ethnic NORP have returned to LOC from other parts of the world in DATE to take advantage of the unique economic boom powering the region.
+The magazine intends to be apolitical. ""The aim is to rediscover ourselves, without any political context,"" said PERSON.
+But it will spotlight and probe NORP personalities in politics, be they in GPE, GPE, GPE or in the diaspora overseas. ""There is a NORP sense and sensibility which has nothing to do with politics -- how they view the notion of the people called 'the NORP',"" said PERSON.
+""We want personalities rather than polemics. Be it GPE's leader PERSON or an NORP NORP running for governor in a GPE state.""
+The NORP title is The NORP. The NORP title is the character ""Zhong"" which means ""centre"", the ORDINAL character of ""PERSON"" or LOC"", CARDINAL of GPE's names. The word derives from an ancient pictogram of an arrow piercing a target.
+By using the simple word ""zhong"" for NORP, the publishers avoid political connotations that would associate NORP people with a specific territory.
+Can the idea make money? Is there really a niche for such a publication in the cut-throat international magazines market?
+""It's a competitive environment, but advertisers have now come to the idea that there is this group of people who are high income earners, clearly part of this fast-emerging economic community in GPE, GPE, GPE and elsewhere.
+""If you look at GPE, GPE or others, these are giants with a strong appeal to advertisers. But NORP language publishing is still a virgin market,"" PERSON said.","GPE leader-in-waiting PERSON on DATE invited the territory's top official, PERSON, to meet him amid intense speculation over whether she might stay in her post after GPE takes over DATE.
+The CARDINAL would meet over breakfast at GPE's villa on GPE on DATE TIME, a government spokesman said. He did not say what they planned to discuss.
+Chan, DATE, is chief secretary and ORDINAL-in-command to Governor PERSON, whom the DATE PERSON will succeed after the change of flag at DATE, bringing down the curtain on DATE of NORP colonial rule.
+An opinion poll DATE ranked PERSON as the most popular political figure in GPE with PERCENT of people saying they support her, well ahead of PERSON himself, who scored a PERCENT approval rating.
+Tung was selected by a GPE-controlled committee on DATE to be GPE post colonial chief executive, the ORDINAL NORP leader in the territory's history.
+With DATE left until the handover, GPE is moving quickly to assemble a cabinet and to hammer out his relationship with a provisional legislature that GPE created DATE.
+He has called an informal lunch meeting of the CARDINAL legislature members DATE, likely to discuss the scope of the body's lawmaking activities and possible candidates for speaker of the assembly, although no agenda has yet been set.
+Chan was once touted as a possible candidate for the job that has fallen to Tung, but she bowed out from the race and declined to become an official candidate despite her popularity.
+Many officials -- in GPE, in GPE and in GPE -- respect PERSON's administrative talent and consider the ORG ticket as a ""dream team"" scenario likely to promote GPE smooth transition to NORP rule.
+She has said she would like to see as many as possible of her policy secretaries -- equivalent to government ministers -- stay on, for the sake of stability in the civil service.
+However, in the ORDINAL sign of cracks in the upper echelon of the administration, CARDINAL top official, PERSON, head of ORG, announced DATE he would quit before the DATE handover.
+Local media speculated on DATE that PERSON's move could be the ORDINAL in an exodus of top officials unwilling to serve an administration under GPE's thumb after GPE pulls out.
+GPE has promised that GPE can be a quasi-autonomous territory and keep its capitalist system for DATE, but many in the territory fear repressive communist-style rule.
+On DATE, GPE ORG, which groups the territory's lawayers, said it had sent a CARDINAL-page report to GPE urging GPE's communist rulers not to scrap GPE LAW.
+GPE has signalled it will roll back the human rights law and a string of other laws and trappings of democracy after it resumes sovereignty.",1
+"The purchase of NORP TV group ORG by ORG slots another piece into the ORG jigsaw but analysts said on DATE it could be some time before the picture is complete.
+""Westcountry was one which was on the table and ORG have done well to snatch it but I am not convinced that there is going to be a massive rush for other ORG franchises,"" said PERSON of Societe Generale Strauss Turnbull.
+ORG said on DATE it had agreed to pay MONEY (MONEY) for Westcountry, pipping ORGamp; ORG which had also been seeking to acquire the privately-owned broadcaster.
+Analysts said that high prices for takeover targets was likely to dampen down takeover activity.
+The ORG commercial television sector is going through a period of consolidation under new media ownership laws. The CARDINAL-licence ownership limit has been removed and replaced by a cap of PERCENT of television audience.
+The Westcountry deal adds the south-western corner of GPE to ORG's licences in LOC and for GPE DATE television. ORG, ORG and ORG are the CARDINAL main players in the sector and are expected gradually to tighten their grip.
+The Westcountry move was described as a ""useful"" addition to ORG's portfolio but analysts said it should be seen in context, noting that its DATE pre-tax profit of CARDINAL stg was tiny compared with ORG's MONEY operating profit from broadcast television.
+ORG pipped ORG at the post for Westcountry and the CARDINAL could square up again in a battle for control of HTV, the ORG broadcaster to GPE and an area of southwest GPE which includes the cities of ORG and PERSON.
+""What this means is that there are CARDINAL suitors for HTV -- GPE and ORG,"" said CARDINAL industry source.
+ORG took a PERCENT stake in HTV DATE but said at the time that it regarded the stake as an investment and was not planning a full bid.
+The Westcountry and HTV franchise areas are usually sold as a single package to advertisers while HTV does all the transmission for its smaller western neighbour. A move for HTV, which has a market capitalisation of MONEY, would have obvious benefits for ORG.
+""Carlton can afford to pay more for HTV than anyone else because it could wring out greater cost savings,"" said PERSON of ORG.
+While ORG and ORG vie for supremacy in the south, GPE is expected to take over its northern neighbour ORG at some point.
+ORG has made its intentions clear by taking a PERCENT stake in GPE, a company valued at MONEY.
+ORG is believed to be sitting it out, waiting for some of the froth to come off the PERSON share price before it moves for the rest of the company. ($MONEY Pound)","GPE congratulated GPE President PERSON on DATE for his election triumph, saying the victory presented a good opportunity to improve ties between GPE and GPE.
+PERSON's sweeping win over NORP rival PERSON is good news for a GPE leadership which prefers to deal with familiar statesmen, NORP academics and officials said.
+""We wish to congratulate President PERSON on his re-election,"" ORG spokesman PERSON said.
+""Now, a good opportunity has presented itself for improving and expanding NORP relations,"" Cui told reporters. ""Some positive progress has been made in bilateral relations, with a somewhat improved atmosphere.""
+GPE was ready to work with GPE for further progress on the basis of past NORP-U.S. joint agreements, he said.
+While PERSON had presided over DATE of NORP-U.S. ties often strained by disputes over trade, human rights, arms proliferation and GPE, his re-election could help stabilise relations, NORP academics said.
+""The result should be a good thing for NORP-U.S. ties. After DATE PERSON now understands GPE to a certain extent and there is some stability in his GPE policy,"" said CARDINAL academic at a U.S.-funded election party in GPE.
+""Another DATE should allow some improvement in relations,"" said the specialist in international strategic studies, who declined to be identified.
+""PERSON is an opponent we know well,"" said a government official at the reception, where invited GPE and NORP guests watched electoral results emerge over satellite television and real time Internet links.
+""It's like basketball: if ORG come to play the GPE team and the CARDINAL sides have never met before, it won't be a good game,"" said the official who declined to be named.
+""Neither side knows what the other can do,"" he said.
+GPE and GPE both say ties have thawed since the CARDINAL sides narrowly averted a trade war over copyright piracy and exchanged diplomatic fire over GPE DATE.
+Cautious optimism was the tone taken by many of the NORP specialists and officials at the reception in a GPE hotel, where cola, hamburgers and live election coverage were served up by GPE businesses keen to boost cross-Pacific understanding.
+""The NORP leaders... like to deal with GPE presidents whom they know personally,"" said Professor PERSON of ORG.
+""I think the NORP leaders will be very happy with this result,"" he said.
+Despite the diplomatic spats of DATE, NORP economic and trade ties had grown relatively fast during PERSON's tenure, PERSON of ORG said in a telephone interview.
+""We are all satisfied with this result because it will have a certain positive effect on the recovery and development of NORP relations,"" said PERSON, director of the academy's ORG and ORG.
+Relations would not improve automatically, he said, adding PERSON should push for high-level contacts, ensure GPE's trade status, smooth GPE's entry to ORG and refrain from creating difficulties on GPE.",0
+"NORP chemicals and drugs group ORG on DATE announced a larger than expected PERCENT rise in DATE profits.
+The company, which reported net income of MONEY (MONEY) versus CARDINAL at the same stage DATE, said the rise in earnings would have been PERCENT but for an expensive product recall.
+Operating profit was MONEY in DATE compared with MONEY. Net sales were MONEY, up from MONEY.
+The share market cheered the earnings figures, encouraged by a good rise at its pharmaceuticals unit and the limited impact of the product recall. At TIME, ORG shares were PERCENT higher at MONEY.
+ORG and its ORG GPE drugs unit issued a profit warning on DATE after their ORG joint venture with ORG recalled albumin products due to the risk of bacterial infection.
+The company is still working on replacing recalled stocks of the blood plasma products. ORG took a MONEY charge in DATE and will take a total DATE charge of MONEY.
+Finance director PERSON reaffirmed the recall would cut PERCENT from analysts' forecasts for the DATE results.
+Asked to comment on DATE forecasts going as high as MONEY, GPE said: ""I have lower forecasts in my head.""
+According to PERSON, the market consensus for DATE is MONEY, rising to MONEY in DATE, after MONEY in DATE.
+For DATE, net income was up PERCENT at MONEY.
+""This progress is a consequence of an improvement in results in the pharmaceutical, animal health and agro businesses,"" the company said.
+""The figures are better than we had forecast,"" said analyst PERSON at BZW in GPE. ""Especially the operating profit at life sciences, pharmaceuticals pleased. It was an encouraging set of results.""
+ORG said he may increase his profit per share forecast from MONEY to MONEY. GPE in GPE said it saw no reason to make any adjustments to its forecast.
+ORG said the agro sector recorded a PERCENT increase in sales and a PERCENT rise in its profit contribution, due to a good global economic climate and the successful marketing of new products, especially ORG.
+In chemicals and the fibres and polymers divisions, a rise in volumes failed to compensate for falling prices.
+Operating profit on the chemicals side was relatively steady at MONEY versus CARDINAL, while in fibres and polymers it took a dive to CARDINAL from CARDINAL.
+The company said it had completed sales of non-strategic assets to the tune of MONEY by DATE and that its net debt-to-equity ratio had fallen to CARDINAL versus CARDINAL at DATE.
+GPE said ORG expected assets sales to reach MONEY by DATE.
+Pharmaceutical earnings would grow in DATE as the synergy savings of the DATE Fisons acquisition came through and because of new products, such as the DATE launch of anti-cancer drug Taxotere in GPE. ($MONEY French Franc)","NORP diversified conglomerate Bouygues on DATE said GPE's STET was joining its efforts to become a leading player in GPE's telecommunications market after full liberalisation of the sector in DATE.
+Bouygues, active in construction, television and communication, said STET would take a PERCENT stake in a new joint venture with ORG, called ORG, in which the NORP group would hold PERCENT.
+This company, together with NORP partner ORG, plans to bid to run the telephone infrastructure of NORP state railways group ORG.
+Bouygues will compete in NORP telecommunications with state-owned ORG, of which a PERCENT stake will be floated in DATE, and with CEGETEL the telecoms company majority owned by ORG.
+STET will also buy into the BDT holding company which is PERCENT owner of ORG. ORG said that PERSON was valued at MONEY and STET would during DATE and 1997 pay MONEY to buy new shares in BDT.
+After this increase, ORG will have PERCENT of ORG, PERSON Decaux International PERCENT and PERCENT.
+ORG has a PERCENT direct stake in ORG. Other stake holders are ORGamp; PERSON, GPE GPE and banks BNP and ORG.
+DATE, ORG said it was forming a telecoms unit CEGETEL with ORG, SBC of GPE and ORG of GPE.
+Analysts have said they are also awaiting a move by ORG on the NORP market.
+France Telecom has Deutsche PERSON and ORG as partners.
+Bouygues in DATE started GPE's ORDINAL mobile telecommuncitions network, aiming at a PERCENT market share in DATE.
+The activity in the NORP telecommunications sector are similar to alliances forming in GPE.
+ORG is allied to NORP utility ORG. On DATE, ORG dropped their company from an alliance with ORG and ORG.",1
+"ORG (ORG) extolled the virtues of ""self help"" on DATE as it reported its best-ever DATE earnings despite pressure on profit margins in some key businesses.
+DATE net earnings jumped by PERCENT to MONEY (MONEY), towards the top end of forecasts, while in DATE they were up PERCENT to a record MONEY.
+ORG said strong oil prices, which have recently been at their highest levels since the DATE EVENT at MONEY a barrell, boosted earnings by MONEY in DATE.
+But it added that the gains were more than offset by weaker profit margins in refining, marketing and chemicals, which accounted for PERCENT of group net earnings.
+Group chief executive PERSON said ORG was enjoying the benefits of a raft of cost-cutting and efficiency drives, which were adding MONEY to profit DATE.
+""What we see here has not come about as a result of high oil prices, it has come about as a result of self help,"" he said.
+The market took the results calmly, with ORG shares adding MONEY to close at MONEY after touching a high of PRODUCT. However, trading in ORG shares on the options market was active.
+""People are still speculating on a fairly sharp rise in ORG shares,"" CARDINAL options specialist said.
+""In a sense ORG have spoilt us,"" said ORG analyst PERSON.
+""We've got used to them coming out with a good set of numbers at the top of the range, and unfortunately with (rival) Shell it is the other way around.""
+ORG's results contrasted with disappointment DATE at DATE figures from rival ORG, where profits fell on the back of low refining margins and a weak chemicals market.
+ORG also emphasised the relative stability in its earnings, partly as a result of the vigorous cost-cutting at its exploration and production activities.
+""They are very much on the ball and very focused. They have achieved a lot of efficiency improvements and delivered a lot of savings,"" said GPE.
+ORG was upbeat about near term propsects, with oil demand expected to remain strong into DATE. But it said its long-term view that the oil price would settle back into arange of MONEY a barrell had not changed. ""The question is how we get from here to there,"" said Browne.
+ORG analyst PERSON said the oil price was always the greatest uncertainty, but added that lower prices tended to mean margins could improve in downstream activities like chemicals and refining.","ORG, the NORP motoring arm of NORP conglomerate ORG, is considering transferring its unique GPE marketing strategy to new markets.
+In an interview with ORG at this DATE's ORG in GPE, ORG UK Ltd managing director PERSON said: ""We are now reviewing the performance over DATE, and the GPE strategy has proved a good model.""
+He said adapting the policy of cutting out car dealerships by selling directly to customers, which has rapidly carved ORG a significant slice of GPE's highly competitive car market, ""is a big possibility.""
+ORG already operates in CARDINAL NORP countries and is preparing to launch its models, which are revamped versions of old ORG cars, in CARDINAL more.
+In DATE of operation in GPE DATE ORG sold CARDINAL cars. And by DATE DATE PERSON said it had already sold another CARDINAL units.
+""Our target when we launched was PERCENT market share in DATE. We have already reached that,"" PERSON said.
+ORG, which likes to advertise itself as breaking the mould of car supply in GPE, launched itself through cleverly targeted publicity, including surveys of customer likes and dislikes.
+Rhie summed up customers' pet hates as ""too much hassle"" from salesmen and poor aftercare once the sale was complete.
+""It is like a wedding, with the customer as the bride. Before, they say I love you, darling,' and all that, but after the marriage they forget,"" PERSON said.
+ORG was the ORDINAL company to offer DATE free servicing on all models and packed its cars with extras including airbags and mobile phones.
+It has also led a revolution in all-inclusive pricing, a trend followed DATE by ORG unit ORG and by ORG with its new ORG sports car.
+But ORG said its GPE strategy was not applicable to all markets, particularly those where the relationship between car producers and dealers is even more entrenched than in GPE.
+""The GPE market is more sophisticated than many other countries. The level of (consumer) awareness is higher.""
+ORG has encountered severe criticism from rivals, some of whom are alarmed at the speed with which it has penetrated the NORP market, where it has overtaken longer-established names like ORG, ORG and ORG.
+Some question whether its pioneering servicing agreement with the ORG superstore chain can provide the level of support for customers that it claims.
+ORG's response to criticism that its current range of models is outmoded will be to launch CARDINAL entirely new cars at DATE. ORG said CARDINAL of these, known as PRODUCT, had been developed largely by its GPE R&D operation in the southern town of GPE, which employs CARDINAL people.
+PERSON declined to state ORG's next target for GPE market share. ""Quantity is very important but that is not the final goal,"" he said. ""Our aim is a customer focus and how to continuously follow up customers' requirements.""",1
+"The head of GPE largest bank is on a crusade to clean up the emerging post-communist banking sector from within and, he hopes, from a seat in the ORG.
+Dr PERSON, the bow-tied president of ORG, says the NORP banking system is fundamentally sound and getting stronger despite a handful of recent failures among smaller institutions.
+But, he says, the whole NORP economy needed a dose of ""fairness and transparency"" to clean up old habits of secrecy and ensure banks are not run as private fiefdoms.
+He is standing for a seat in the newly-established NORP ORG at elections in DATE, saying he wants to help bring back ""good manners"" to the banking industry and restore the reputation of the NORP finance sector.
+Better risk management is crucial, according to ORG.
+He said that GPE and the CARDINAL other large banks -- which comprise PERCENT of all NORP banking activity -- had bolstered their reserves to meet NORP banking standards, and had developed more effective risk management techniques.
+""As concerns ""The Big Four', (the situation) is, for sure, very good, because all these big CARDINAL banks in DATE have built up huge reserves,"" PERSON said during a visit to the PGA Czech Open golf tournament here recently.
+""It's true that we have an unusually high proportion of risky loans in our portfolios, which is partially inherited from the past. Other (bad loans) were made in DATE of euphoria, after the (DATE revolution ending Communism).""
+He said from branches to front office, GPE has stepped up risk management techniques which have now been also adopted by PERSON,  ORG, and ORG -- the others in ""WORK_OF_ART"".
+""Now we are in the final stage when we are building a central risk assessment department, which supervises all kinds of risks, not only from credit but also from the capital market operations and from the foreign operations.""
+FAILURES EXPOSE PROBLEMS
+Salzmann said he believed the recent failure of PERSON a.s., a medium-sized bank which became the ORDINAL to shut in the post-communist era, stemmed, like others before it, from greed and naivete.
+""I would blame mostly the founders of the banks, because they provided for themselves various kinds of privileges. They were, in most cases in my opinion, those who did not come with the intention to rob the money and disappear or something like that, I don't say that,"" PERSON contended.
+""But many of them founded the bank with false ideas that (their) bank would be able to provide themselves with easier conditions and lower prices for money for their internal use.""
+Salzmann said these bad lending practices spiraled until the banks were forced to raise their rates and tighten lending conditions for regular customers.
+""This snowballed from the naivete at the beginning,"" he said.
+Kreditni suffered losses reportedly at MONEY NORP crowns (MONEY) through a series of large loan defaults and on DATE the central bank withdrew its banking licence.
+The local press has been ripe with allegations of mismanagement and murky loan operations at many of the failed institutions, but criminal investigations have yet to produce any charges.
+Officials from PERSON have refused to comment on reasons for its failure, but its controlling shareholder, the large insurer PERSON, chalked it up simply to bad decisions by bank management on loans and loan guarantees.
+Salzmann, DATE, said problems in the banking system were part of a bigger problem of honesty and fairness throughout the economy.
+He said that if elected, he would push to expand the enforcement power of regulators to police dubious practices in banks, investment funds, and on the capital market, which is consistently hampered by charges of insider trading.
+ORG PLATFORM
+""My (candidacy), is to bring to this freshly-introduced capitalism more decency...a better field for good business,"" said PERSON.
+The erudite banker, who often recalls the days of thriving NORP capitalism between wars, said he would work in the ORG to establish an independent capital market watchdog like ORG.
+Salzmann resigned as the chairman of ORG DATE -- a mostly honorary position -- to allow his friend and party colleague PERSON to take over as a full-time, hands-on leader of the bourse.
+Both PERSON and ORG will run for the ORG in separate constituencies, and both support starting up a market-supported watchdog beefed up from the currently understaffed and underfunded ORG regulation department.
+But ORG, who said he cannot by contract retire from the bank for CARDINAL more year, rejects charges that his membership in the ORG while heading the country's largest banking group would constitute a conflict of interest. There is no legal requirement in GPE for legislators to suspend their business interests when they enter parliament.
+Salzmann insists he would never use his ORG seat to gain advantages for his bank, but he makes no apologies about using his seat to try to improve the banking and business environment overall.
+""I will support all such measures to bring more fairness, decency, good manners, transparency, all those principals which are, of course, favourable for the banks. So in that sense I will be perhaps in a conflict of interest,"" ORG said.
+When asked if that meant he would support laws which would separate the banks and their investment arms, many of which control major chunks of the NORP economy -- like at GPE -- Salzmann answered:
+""Yes, transparency, mandatory transparency."" ($MONEY NORP PRODUCT)","Finance Minister PERSON on DATE, for DATE, skipped a meeting with the GPE bourse's governing chamber, amid growing calls for his ministry to tackle problems in NORP securities trading.
+""At TIME (NORP) cancelled his participation in this TIME's meeting,ORG (PSE) spokesman PERSON told ORG.
+The bourse's ORG, which has been seeking stronger ministry action to ease investors' concerns about market transparency, later declined ORG's return invitation for a ""future"" meeting at his ministry.
+The meetings had been scheduled to discuss taking tougher regulatory action to address concerns of transparency and insider trading on NORP capital markets.
+PERSON, director of ORG banking division, told ORG that ORG was ""too busy with the preparation of the state budget"" and ""it was impossible for him to leave the ministry"".
+The budget has been expected for DATE to go to the floor of parliament for its ORDINAL reading in the session which begins on DATE.
+NORP then invited the CARDINAL-member ORG to his ministry for a ""future"" meeting, ORG said.
+The ORG later declined that invitation, an official at the office of ORG Chairman PERSON told ORG.
+PERSON lambasted NORP on DATE for lax regulation of the capital markets during the DATE national congress of the ruling ORG, of which both men are members.
+PERSON told the party meeting that the reluctance of finance ministry officials to more strongly regulate the capital markets was ""absurd"" and investors' lack of confidence could eventually do major damage the country's balance of payments.
+""The capital account of our payments balance is DATE unable to level with a growing deficit in our trade balance, and the capital market needs to gain back the lost confidence,"" PERSON was quoted by the daily Pravo as saying.
+PERSON warned that poor capital market regulation might even force a devaluation of the crown if confidence is not restored.
+PERSON is leading plans to set up an independent markets watchdog akin to ORG (ORG), funded by transaction fees, by DATE.
+The finance ministry has balked at the plan, but PERSON is widely believed to have the backing of the parliament's budget committee which he has said will probably submit legislation permitting a NORP ORG to be set up in DATE.
+ORG has rejected criticism that his ministry is failing in its responsibility to properly regulate the system, and says stronger regulations would be ""anti-market"".
+Still, foreign and domestic investors have repeatedly called for steps to beef up the supervision of the NORP capital market, and the ministry has said it is considering its own plan to re-regulate securities trading.
+PERSON, chairman of the largest NORP bank PERSON a.s., told Pravo that ""none of the more important groups want to trade on this capital market.""
+-- Prague PRODUCT, CARDINAL-2-2423-0003",1
+"Following a bumper year in DATE, yet more NORP companies are likely to be takeover targets in DATE, but much of the merger and acquisition activity will be in the form of agreed deals, corporate financiers say.
+""We certainly see DATE being very active. There are a lot of transactions in the pipeline, a lot of activity,"" WORK_OF_ART, head of corporate finance at ORG, told ORG.
+GPE is still regarded as the NORP leader for takeover activity. ""The markets here have always been more open than elsewhere, with not many constraints to other companies coming over here,"" another senior corporate financier said.
+In DATE, CARDINAL NORP companies valued at MONEY (MONEY) were sold in cross-border deals, compared to CARDINAL firms worth MONEY in DATE.
+Faure Walker said most of the deals in the pipeline were agreed rather than contested, with a number of strategic mergers reflecting industry rationalisations and cost eliminations. Others said consolidation and deconsolidation would both be driving forces behind activity in DATE.
+ELECTION TO SET BUSINESS TEMPO
+But while the outlook for DATE looks promising for the corporate financiers who earn their fees by advising either acquirer or target, political influences are likely to colour how the market progresses, with the result of the impending general election the major force at work.
+""The big thing DATE is the election,"" said PERSON, adding that the election of a new goverment was likely to introduce a note of caution into the market.
+This view was backed by the ORDINAL corporate financier who said there could be some slowing of activity ahead of the election as companies did their best to avoid a deal being straddled across an election period.
+GPE's opposition Labour party has consistently been ahead of the ruling NORP in the opinion polls and an election is due to be called by May.
+If Labour wins, companies could take some time to adjust to the new environment and could wait until after a ORDINAL Labour budget before making any significant moves. For a typical large acquisition this could result a DATE period of caution, some industry players said, although others said activity was likely to continue whatever the government.
+TAKEOVERS TO TAKE IN MORE SECTORS
+A broader spread of takeovers, evident during DATE, is expected to run into DATE as companies play ""catch-up"" after a period of caution following the recession of DATE. Formerly publicly-owned utilities, including the few remaining regional electricity suppliers, will be joined by insurance brokers struggling with declining rates and a host of others.
+""The inevitable reconstruction of industries will continue. The pace will quicken,"" the ORDINAL corporate financier said.
+The tendency towards agreed deals also reflected the fact that GPE's ORG had largely referred contested deals to the department of trade and industry (ORG) in DATE rather than agreed bids, financiers said.
+REMAINING ORGIn the electricity sector, the remaining privatised regional electricity companies (RECs) are viewed as likely targets for GPE predators. ORG and PERSON are tipped to follow recent takeover targets ORG and ORG into GPE hands.
+With CARDINAL RECs remaining, some analysts suggest attention will now turn to the water companies, with further takeovers among them.
+SMALLER FINANCIAL PLAYERS TO FEEL THE PINCH
+The financial services sector is also seen as a hot-bed for further takeovers with perennials such as merchant banks ORG, PERSON, and PERSON all possible targets for larger global investment banks.
+Further consolidation among small, specialist City of GPE and regional boutiques is also likely and GPE's dwindling club of large mutually-owned building societies could also attract attention from larger groups.
+In the insurance sector ORG is seen as a likely bid target or merger partner after widespread rumours suggesting talks with the financial services arm of B.A.T. It has also been linked with General Accident and ORG.
+Among the insurance brokers, talk of consolidation as firms try to cut costs in the face of declining rates and overcapacity has been fuelled by recent mergers such as PERSON and ORG. PERSON and ORG have long been rumoured to be possible merger or takeover candidates.
+TELECOMS TO RING IN MORE CHANGES
+Corporate financiers see the telecommunications and media sectors as providing significant merger activity during DATE, with ORG, cable group ORG and NORP all tipped as possible targets.
+There have also been suggestions that ORG One-2-One may join ORG and that NORP Telecom may buy out its PERCENT partner in GPE. Energis, the cable company owned by ORG, has been valued by some at MONEY, while privately-owned ORG also has long-term plans to float.
+Among media companies, HTV, PERSON and ORG have all been suggested as possible targets, with PRODUCT an outside contender. In the growing sector of publicly quoted football clubs, GPE has obvious appeal.
+OIL AND GAS TO REMAIN IGNITED
+The demerger of ORG into separate trading and transport firms in DATE has led to widespread market speculation that an oil major could be interested in buying the trading arm, to be called LOC.
+Worldwide consolidation in the oil industry is seen also affecting NORP firms. Smaller exploration and production firms might be eyed by the big players, all cash-rich after DATE of cost-cutting and keen to boost oil and gas reserves.
+Other firms tipped to face takeover attempts are ORG retailer ORG, defence to electronics group Racal, auto-components group T&N, construction group ORG. Energy, currently part of ORG but due to be demerged DATE, is not expected to be left uncourted for long.
+GPE's drink companies are entering a period of steady, organic growth which precludes any major acquisitions. But ORG, ORG and ORG have been dissuaded from pursuing the idea of demergers.
+The major food companies are also looking to prune their brand portfolios to allow a more concentrated marketing push behind core brands with international appeal. This strategy will involve disposal programmes and small bolt-on acquisitions.
+PERSON and ORG, ORG Tate & PERSON are all sufficiently cash-rich to launch sizeable takeovers.","GPE's largest cable operator was born on DATE from the merger of the NORP operations of cable and telecoms giants ORGamp; ORG, ORG of the GPE and ORG.
+The deal, which took DATE to complete, brings together C&W's ORG, NORP cable company ORG, ORG and ORG CableComms, eclipsing GPE as GPE's biggest cable operator.
+It is a landmark deal for C&W chief executive PERSON, appointed DATE, and follows the collapse of merger talks DATE between C&W and its great rival ORG.
+C&W DATE replaced ORG in a major NORP alliance with diversified utility PRODUCT that is seen as the main competitor to the dominant ORG PERSON as the NORP market is being liberalised.
+PERSON said the merged company, which will provide integrated telecommunications, information and entertainment services, would give C&W's telephone company ORG access to a total of CARDINAL business and domestic customers.
+Latest statistics show PERCENT of homes which can take cable after an extensive cable-laying drive beneath GPE's streets have opted for CARDINAL or more cable service.
+PERSON said the move had been spawned by a common vision.
+""We had a common vision of what could be done and we have done it with speed and nimbleness,"" he told ORG.
+The development was welcomed by the industry, battling to compete with satellite operators such as BSkyB in television services and ORG in telephones.
+""This is clear evidence of confidence in the future of the GPE cable industry,"" a spokesman for industry body ORG, said.
+""The broadband fibre optic network being laid across the GPE is the most advanced in the world for delivery to individual homes,"" he said, adding that around 6 billion pounds (MONEY) had already been invested in building the network and a further CARDINAL of investment was planned.
+In a related deal, ORG is being bought by ORG in a complex transaction involving a MONEY equity investment in ORG by ORGamp; ORG. This values ORG at MONEY.
+Once the merger and the ORG deal have been completed, ORGamp; ORG will own PERCENT of the new company -- to be called ORGamp; ORG -- with ORG owning PERCENT and ORG PERCENT of the shares.
+PERCENT will floated and the groups intend to list the company in both GPE and GPE. This is likely to take place in DATE.
+C&W's PERSON said he could not detail the financial aspects of the merger because of the new company's planned listing.
+Cable & ORG ""...will provide local, national, international, data and mobile telecommunications, together with multichannel television and Internet services"".
+PERSON said the new company would be the only one in GPE able to offer multiple services which people had to get from different providers until now.
+""Cable & ORG will be the only company in the GPE capable of offering a combination of telecoms, broadband, data transmission, video shopping and Internet access.""
+The group aims to increase revenues by providing a wider range of services to existing customers and increased access to a broader customer base. It will also produce ""significant cost savings"" by eliminating duplication, enhancing purchasing power and increasing capital expenditure efficiencies.
+The new company will be strategically positioned to offer new products like interactive digital services and multi-media products ""as they become available"", the companies said.
+PERSON, executive director of NORP operations at C&W, told ORG that the deal would not lead to duplication.
+""Both ORG and the cable companies had strategies to dig up the streets and lay cables and they are looking at the same streets. This gives the chance to do it once and keep the costs down as a result,"" he said.
+ORG said no other players could match what he described as ""a unique force"" in the NORP market.",1
+"CARDINAL of tonnes of copper have moved through NORP customs into central stocks and are staying put, despite fears the metal could be sold to take advantage of current high prices, traders said on DATE.
+""It was a good decision to buy good quality metal at CARDINAL (GPE) cents a pound; now they are feeling smug,"" a NORP industry executive said of GPE's central authorities.
+""It is central buying, there is no doubt about that because none of it is moving out,"" he said.
+GPE recently boosted central copper reserves by QUANTITY, with most of it now having cleared customs formalities, although a lag in NORP customs reporting may keep the figures off the books for DATE, trading sources said.
+Few NORP trading companies would have the financial resources to buy and then store substantial amounts of copper, a GPE trader said.
+The recent surge in world spot prices had been expected to fuel a flow of NORP material on to the world market.
+But a modest rise DATE in stocks held in ORG (ORG) warehouses in GPE -- traders said QUANTITY -- indicated the NORP material was staying home.
+""It's a piddling amount,"" a trader in GPE said of the increase in stocks in GPE.
+ORG copper trading has been volatile in DATE, with a moderate rise in stocks on DATE, the ORDINAL since DATE, pushing prices down on profit-taking and liquidation.
+DATE copper finished DATE at US$MONEY, bouncing off support MONEY in the TIME ring, dealers said.
+Losses were kept to a minimum, they said, as market jitters centred on the upcoming DATE options declaration. The main concern was if DATE copper came MONEY, where there was a large concentration of open interest on calls.
+With ORG stocks at QUANTITY and the spot price at CARDINAL, the ORG does not have enough copper to cover calls with a strike price of $MONEY, which total QUANTITY.
+Traders in LOC seemed largely uninterested in the DATE options expiry as GPE is seen to be flush with copper and not interested in selling.
+What little movement there has been out of GPE, some of which was possibly included in the QUANTITY hike in GPE, was in small lots of probably CARDINAL at a time, the GPE trader said.
+While GPE was neither actively buying nor selling now, it would have to boost imports to keep pace with demand DATE, traders said.
+""The market is physically tight so it is very good for the producers,"" a marketing executive with a major producer said.
+He said GPE's crackdown on scrap imports, coupled with expected casualties among domestic smelters, would lead to total NORP copper imports in DATE of QUANTITY.
+The opening in DATE or DATE of a new smelter in GPE province near the top-of-the-line GPE smelter would account for DATE, he said.
+Official customs figures show DATE imports of cast and unwrought copper were up PERCENT on DATE, to QUANTITY, with DATE imports QUANTITY.
+The new smelter, a joint venture between GPE and GPE's ORG and ORG had already booked QUANTITY of concentrate imports for DATE, the marketing executive said.
+""They are looking at smelting QUANTITY of concentrate, and producing QUANTITY of metal,"" he said.
+In other base metal markets, premiums to GPE remained largely unchanged. The latest GPE indications of premium or discount in US$/tonne over ORG cash prices on a CIF basis:
+				Dec 2			   Nov CARDINAL
+    COPPER		   100			     100
+    ALUMINIUM Western     CARDINAL			   CARDINAL
+    CIS N/A N/A
+    LEAD		     CARDINAL			     130
+    ZINC (NORP)	   N/A			     N/A
+	   (Western)	 CARDINAL			 120-130
+(MONEY)
+-- GPE newsroom (CARDINAL) 2843-6470","ORG jumped PERCENT DATE on the expectation the company would emerge as a smaller but more profitable operation after its planned exit from the computer modem business.
+The GPE, GPE, company was up CARDINAL at CARDINAL after its announcement DATE that it planned to pull out of the highly competitive modem-chip business and focus instead on the fast-growing market for computer networking equipment.  
+""Certainly the company will be a much smaller company now, but it will be a more profitable business,"" said analyst PERSON of ORGamp; Co.
+But analysts noted that ORG still has much painful work ahead of it, including cutting CARDINAL jobs from its workforce, which currently has CARDINAL people, and building up the business of its ORG unit, which makes routing devices and chipsets for high-speed computer networks.
+The company has announced plans to take a charge against earnings of MONEY to write down the value of assets and inventories and cover severance payments.  
+Scott Randall of ORG said the company likely would have difficulty selling its modem-chip business.
+""Once you announce your intention to exit a business, it becomes a complete buyer's market,"" he said.
+And he said that while the company is focusing on the fastest-growing part of its business, the market for networking chips has begun to attract the attention of much-larger players such as ORG  
+""As the market develops the question is, are they able to make that transition to be a much larger company?"" Randall said.
+Other analysts were more bullish, even though the company is expected to shrink to slightly CARDINAL its current size in sales.
+""It's a positive strategic move,"" said PERSON of ORGamp; ORG.
+""The modem business is a low-margin, commodity business,"" he said.
+The company's ORG unit generated MONEY of the company's MONEY in sales in DATE, compared with MONEY in sales of modem chips, ORG said. But the ORG unit is far more profitable, he said.
+ORG's stock has fallen from a high of MONEY DATE as the computer chip sector has been battered by falling prices and concern about slowing demand. -- GPE bureau CARDINAL-386-4848",0
+"The MONEY merger of ORG and ORG will create a supercarrier posing a potent threat to rivals in the GPE market place, industry analysts said DATE.
+""In CARDINAL company you have the resources of an ORG and the marketing savvy of an ORG,"" said consultant PERSON of ORG.
+The new company, PERSON will have a market value of MONEY, roughly the same as ORG, and could spur more mega-mergers among GPE carriers. ORG is currently the ORDINAL largest GPE long distance company behind ORG and has PERCENT of the market.
+""Its already going pretty fast. We have had CARDINAL deals of MONEY since DATE. But we are going to get more,"" said analyst PERSON of ORG.
+The regional PERSON as well as ORG, ORG and ORG will all have to re-examine their market strategies and see where they may be vulnerable.
+""It clearly ups the competitive ante for the whole industry,"" said analyst PERSON of ORG.
+PERSON will push harder into the MONEY local calling market, both through the ORG Metro venture it already has in major GPE cities, and through resale of regional ORG circuits, as soon as possible.
+""If ORG is more prepared to take early losses than ORG is, you could see a renewed emphasis on local markets,"" Woodlief said, adding he expected to see marketing pushed harder.
+AT&T will have to concentrate hard now that it is looking eye-to-eye at a rival its own size.
+""DATE out ORG could take the top spot from ORG domestically, which would have been unthinkable just one DATE. DATE out you won't recognize this industry,"" PERSON said.
+There are plenty of vital assets, like state-of-the-art nationwide networks in the hands of carriers who don't have enough money to make the most of them, analysts say.
+""ORG is still definitely on the block,"" said PERSON, an analyst at consultancy ORG.
+ORG is in the process of buying business network provider ORG in a MONEY deal. ORG has barely finished buying Internet access provider ORG when the ORG deal was announced.
+""Conventional wisdom says ORG or ORG) would buy ORG, but a dark horse would be Cable and Wireless Plc,"" PERSON said. GPE's C&W said DATE it would build a LOC cable system with ORG.
+ORG was a rumored bidder for ORG, while ORG and ORG agreed to merge in DATE. None of them, however, owns a national long distance network.
+ORG already is offering long distance calling. ORG and ORG, and the other regional ORG will not legally be able to offer long distance until a legal impasse over GPE telecommunications reform is solved.
+ORG attempts to implement the DATE Telecom Act have been stalled by a legal challenge. The ORG had set rules to govern the resale of ORG circuits to new rivals in the local calling market.
+Debt-strapped ORG, the largest GPE cable television company, is another candidate for takeover as cable networks and phone networks combine.
+""Another company ripe for acquisition is ORG. They don't have enough cash to do what they want to do,"" said PERSON.
+He suggested that ORG or ORG would want to buy ORG. ORG is already a partner with ORG and CARDINAL other cable firms in a national venture called ORG to bundle local and long distance telephone, wireless and cable TV.
+ORG shares added MONEY to $MONEY on ORG on DATE, well down from the MONEY per share the deal is worth, reflecting concerns the ORG may block the deal and that approval in any case would take DATE.
+The deal's actual value varies with the movements of ORG shares. NORP Telecom NORP depositary shares on ORG soared $MONEY to $MONEY.
+If the deal does go through, PERSON could get even bigger, with more alliances likely by the time the regional Bells can get into long distance.
+""I would assume within DATE you will have CARDINAL or more partners from the regional PERSON joining the PERSON alliance,"" said PERSON, a consultant for ORG.
+Whatever happens, the market perception of the types of deals that can be done has changed.
+""What you witnessed DATE was the birth of a supercarrier,"" said PERSON.","Major NORP non-life insurance company ORGamp; ORG announced on DATE that it plans to take a majority stake in the NORP unit of GPE life insurance giant ORG
+Terms of the deal, which would be the ORDINAL time a NORP non-life insurance company has purchased a life insurance subsidiary, were not disclosed.
+ORG said it would boost its business cooperation with ORG of GPE by taking a majority stake in ORG's NORP unit, ORG
+""It is the ORDINAL time a NORP non-life insurance company has taken over a life insurance company. We have cooperated over DATE and that experience made this possible,"" ORG president PERSON told a news conference.
+ORG said the relationship between ORG and ORG was an example of private-sector cooperation between NORP and NORP companies even though GPE has protested GPE's newly revised insurance law, which it says violates a ORG trade agreement.
+The companies began cooperating in DATE and ORG acquired PERCENT of ORG in DATE, and now plans to boost that stake to PERCENT within DATE or CARDINAL, ORG said.
+Under GPE's new ORG, which took effect on DATE, non-life insurers and life insurers are allowed to enter each other's business sectors through subsidiaries.
+GPE and GPE have been at odds over the entry of NORP insurance firms' subsidiaries into the so-called ORDINAL-sector market, a lucrative niche market that covers accident insurance products, among others.
+GPE's ORG is likely to put conditions on the entry of domestic insurance companies' subsidiaries into the ORDINAL sector, industry sources said.
+ORG did not disclose the cost of the planned purchase of ORG shares. However, he added the cost was similar to what it had cost non-life insurance companies to establish life insurance subsidiaries.
+GPE's CARDINAL other non-life insurers set up life insurance subsidiaries DATE with share capital ranging from MONEY to MONEY (MONEY).
+The life insurance subsidiaries are expected to begin operations in DATE.
+(MONEY)",0
+"Detained NORP dissident PERSON faces the capital charge of plotting to subvert the government based on evidence such as writings critical of the state and accepting funds from abroad, a human rights group said on DATE.
+PERSON case was expected to come to trial DATE, the GPE-based Human Rights in GPE said in a statement.
+Relatives said on DATE they had succeeded in finding a lawyer willing to defend ORG, the former leader of the DATE student demonstrations for more democracy centred in GPE's FAC.
+ORG on DATE informed ORG's mother, PERSON, that she had one day to find her son a lawyer, a signal that the dissident had been indicted and a trial was imminent.
+The family on DATE obtained a copy of the court chargesheet, which formally accused the DATE of plotting to subvert the government, a crime that carries a maximum penalty of death.
+The indictment cited CARDINAL major areas of evidence against ORG, Human Rights in GPE said.
+The ORDINAL was the writing of articles published in overseas magazines and newspapers, including some that criticised the government, in DATE since his release from jail.
+ORG served DATE in prison for counter-revolutionary crimes, or subversion, for his role in the DATE demonstrations, which were crushed by the army on DATE with heavy loss of life.
+Other evidence against the former student at prestigious ORG included taking part in studies at home organised by ORG, in GPE, Human Rights in GPE said.
+The charges accused ORG and other dissidents of joining forces to collect funds and donations to help other dissidents facing difficulties and the lack of work after their release from prison, the group said.
+PERSON was also accused of accepting donations and economic aid from overseas organisations, it said.
+ORG's lawyer had already visited the court dealing with ORG's case to begin legal formalities, but there was still no news of when the trial of the former student leader, who has been in detention since DATE, would begin, a close relative said.
+""We feel pretty anxious. We are just waiting for new developments,"" the relative told ORG.
+The outspoken activist attracted the ire of GPE's communist authorities in DATE when he shot to prominence as a leader of student protests for more democracy centred on FAC in the heart of the NORP capital.
+ORG had been expected to face new charges since DATE, when the court that convicted veteran democracy activist PERSON -- a nominee for this DATE's WORK_OF_ART -- of plotting to overthrow the government also implicated the former student leader.
+The court's verdict said PERSON, who was jailed for DATE, had links with people ""convicted of counter-revolutionary crimes, including PERSON"". It also referred to a tape-recorded conversation between ORG and PERSON, but gave no details.
+ORG had been active since his release from jail, defying persistent police surveillance and harassment to join in a daring appeal to communist leaders for the release of those still in prison for their part in the DATE protests.","GPE has revived a call by ORG chief PERSON to wipe out poverty before DATE in a bid to placate its backward hinterland, analysts said.
+The text of a speech PERSON made in DATE calling for more funds to fight poverty was splashed across front pages of major newspapers on DATE.
+The coverage was aimed partly at bolstering ORG standing in impoverished but politically sensitive regions, CARDINAL GPE-based NORP diplomat said.
+""It shows that the party leadership has not forgotten the poor,"" said the diplomat, who asked not to be identified.
+The reports were also timed to show concern ahead of EVENT, GPE's most important holiday, analysts said.
+NORP leaders traditionally make highly publicised trips to poor areas to hand out gifts before DATE begins on DATE.
+""The poor can have a happy EVENT, but after DATE, life will still be difficult,"" CARDINAL NORP analyst said.
+""The gap between the rich and poor is becoming wider and there's more bitterness.""
+GPE's eastern coastal provinces have boomed DATE of economic reform that have allowed some areas to get rich faster than others. Provinces in central and western GPE have lagged badly.
+Beijing fears that the widening gap between rich and poor could spark social unrest and undermine its grip on power.
+Analysts said that was a major concern ahead of a crucial ORG congress scheduled for DATE and expected to set the course of national policy over the medium term.
+""The scale of poverty relief will be bigger DATE,"" the NORP analyst said.
+More people were in need of aid after being laid off from loss-making or insolvent state enterprises, he said.
+""They're playing up a DATE speech to show the government is earnestly concerned about the problem and trying to do something about it,"" the analyst said.
+In the speech, PERSON urged the nation to ""gnaw the hard bone"" of poverty by pouring more funds into eliminating the problem by DATE.
+GPE says it reduced the number of people living in poverty by CARDINAL in DATE but CARDINAL people are still struggling to get by with incomes under the official poverty line of MONEY ($MONEY) DATE.
+The central government currently spends MONEY a year on poverty relief and GPE has pledged a further MONEY to build roads and water facilities in impoverished areas.
+During an inspection tour of some of GPE's poorest regions DATE, PERSON tried to resurrect communist revolutionary fervour to fight poverty.
+He exhorted villagers and officials to resurrect the ""glorious tradition"" of the revolution that won the civil war for the communists in DATE.
+($MONEY = MONEY)",0
+"The Internet could provide a huge boost to the GPE economy if the federal government pursues ""free market"" policies in cyberspace, a group of President PERSON's top advisers says in a draft report obtained by ORG.
+The group, an interagency task force headed by senior presidential adviser PERSON, recommended that the administration work globally to protect the Internet from new taxes, censorship and other onerous forms of regulation.
+After DATE of deliberations, the task force is preparing to issue for public comment a report of principles and policies GPE should pursue, PERSON said in an interview.
+""CARDINAL of the things we're trying to do with this paper is as much say what government should not do as say what they should do,"" PERSON said. ""A lot of what industry is concerned about is that governments are already beginning to take actions around the world that would inhibit commerce.""
+The growth of Internet commerce could help boost GPE exports of everything from movies and news to software and consulting services. Exports of such products totalled MONEY in DATE, the draft report noted.
+The idea is to hitch GPE exports to the speeding Internet commerce train. Sales of goods and services online are projected to grow to MONEY in DATE, from MONEY DATE, according to market researchers at ORG.
+""Companies have told us there would be a tremendous potential to increase world trade across the Internet if we could provide the right kind of environment,"" PERSON said.
+The draft report, called ""WORK_OF_ART,"" covers CARDINAL issues, from taxation and customs to privacy and security.
+On taxation, the draft report echoes a report issued by ORG DATE by stating no new taxes should be imposed. Acting through ORG, GPE should push for the Internet to be designated a duty-free zone, the draft said.
+Some consumers worry that their privacy will be violated when they shop online. The report said governments should push vendors to disclose what will be done with information about consumers rather than dictate to merchants what they can or cannot do with the data.
+On some issues, such as encryption -- encoding information in a scrambled format to provide a measure of security or privacy -- existing administration policies may be seen as conflicting with the free market approach of the draft report.
+PERSON said policies will evolve over time, ""but the paper will reflect where we are now.""
+PERSON headed PERSON's failed effort to reform the GPE health care system, an initiative critics said favoured government over the private sector.
+While disagreeing with his critics' characterisation of the health care plan, PERSON said the Internet ""is a wholly different animal.
+""I'm a problem solver, not an ideologue,"" he said.","An influential Internet organisation has backed away from a proposal to dramatically expand the number of addresses available on the global computer network.
+The Internet Society, which helps develop and coordinate Internet standards, announced DATE that instead of moving ahead with the proposal it would form a CARDINAL-member committee to study the issue.
+Unveiled in DATE, the proposal was an attempt to quell the growing number of disputes over desirable address names.
+""There has been considerable international debate on various aspects of the proposal with no consensus,"" PERSON, president of the society, said in a statement. ""It is in the best interest of the continued beneficial evolution of the Internet that these issues be aired and resolved.""
+Disputes over Internet names are occuring with increasing frequency as more companies seek to publicise and market their products over the Net.
+For example, ORG ORG cable music channel fought with CARDINAL of its employees who had registered ""mtv.com,"" eventually regaining control of the name in an out-of-court settlement.
+Every site on the World Wide Web must have a unique address name. Most addresses end with CARDINAL of CARDINAL letter designations, known as top-level domains, including ""com"" for private sites, ""gov for government sites and ""edu"" for sites run by schools.
+In DATE, Internet Assigned ORG said it would oversee the creation of CARDINAL new top level domains, easing the squeeze, especially for names in the private sector category.
+The authority, operating under charter from the society and ORG, is the central coordinator of Internet addresses and other standards.
+The society's board of trustees voted in DATE to accept a preliminary version of the numbers authority proposal, with the proviso that the business aspects of proposal be fleshed out.
+But with the ensuing controversy, the society decided a committee was needed to reexamine the proposal, Heath said.
+The committee will include CARDINAL members appointed by the society, CARDINAL by the numbers authority and CARDINAL by ORG.
+ORG, EVENT and ORG will each appoint CARDINAL member.",1
+"Investors on both sides of the LOC applauded the planned MONEY merger of ORG and ORG of GPE DATE, boosting their shares in stock market trading.
+NORP, NORP and GPE regulators will subject the deal to close scrutiny amid strong opposition to it from rivals, including NORP long-distance market leader ORG
+ORG, or ORG, as it is known, said it was optimistic that ORG would clear the largest cross-border takeover deal in history, which will create one of the largest groups in the rapidly expanding global telecommunications sector.
+GPE's communications industry regulatory agency said it was studying the details of the merger and it was too early to pass judgment.
+BT Chief Executive Sir PERSON has said it could take DATE to clear all the regulatory hurdles.
+BT's shares powered MONEY higher to CARDINAL -- adding MONEY (MONEY) to the company's market value on huge trading volume of CARDINAL shares.
+ORG gained $MONEY to $MONEY in early trading on ORG, while ORG fell MONEY on ORG.
+Despite the large cost of the deal to ORG -- it will be the biggest-ever acquisition by a NORP firm -- the deal is seen as having a compelling industrial logic, linking leading phone companies on both sides of the LOC.
+For ORG shareholders the deal is also being sugared with a promise of a special CARDINAL-time CARDINAL dividend payout and a higher rate of general dividend increases in the future.
+""It is positive for ORG shareholders and positive for the (telecoms) sector,"" said PERSON, analyst at ORG.
+For customers, the deal promises better service and lower international calling charges, while for businesses it means a company that can support them wherever they are.
+The merged company will be called ORG. It will be the ORDINAL-largest international carrier after NORP
+The deal values all of GPE, D.C.-based ORG at MONEY. Since ORG already owns PERCENT of ORG, it will issue Concert stock and cash worth MONEY for PERCENT. Holders of ORG stock will control CARDINAL of the stock in the combined company.
+PERSON, ORG's head of ORG affairs, told ORG he hoped the deal would be dealt with under the ORG's fast-track merger rules and said he did not anticipate any anti-trust problems because the companies ""operate in competitive markets.""
+Analysts expect ORG and ORG to start making overtures to major NORP players such as GPE's giant ORG and ORG
+But while seeking an NORP partner, ORG appears to be putting another one on a backburner.
+ORG is to cut its stake in a GPE satellite television venture with media tycoon PERSON to PERCENT from PERCENT, and has said it will probably not increase its stake in PERSON's ORG as originally expected.
+ORG paid MONEY for a stake of PERCENT, and could increase it to PERCENT with another MONEY investment.","ORGamp; ORG on DATE secured victory in a battle for control of international exhibitions group PERSON with an agreed offer valuing the company at MONEY (MONEY).
+The deal will create the world's largest trade exhibition group with a turnover of MONEY, based on DATE figures.
+Media and financial services group ORG said it had already secured acceptances for PERCENT of PERSON after offering QUANTITY per share.
+""The acquisition will be earnings-enhancing in DATE but the real attraction is the long-term growth we can get out by combining these businesses into CARDINAL group,"" ORG chief executive PERSON told ORG.
+ORG shares added CARDINAL to CARDINAL-1/2p after the announcement, while PERSON gained CARDINAL-1/2p to CARDINAL.
+NORP publisher ORG, which DATE acquired a PERCENT stake in PERSON, said it would not make a counter-bid and was likely to sell its stake. That decision effectively removed the threat of a bidding war developing for PERSON.
+NORP-NORP media group PERSON had been regarded as a rival suitor to ORG but sources close to the company indicated in DATE that it had dropped out of the running.
+The deal ends an on-off saga that began in DATE when PERSON said it had received a bid approach. In DATE it said that talks with an unnamed party had broken down but then made another statement DATE confirming a new approach.
+Based on DATE figures, combined turnover and operating profit would be MONEY and QUANTITY, respectively.
+Analysts said that PERSON's geographical strength in continental LOC, and GPE in particular, made it a good fit with ORG.
+ORG's ORG subsidiary operates CARDINAL exhibitions in the GPE, LOC and LOC but the NORP market is seen as its main strength. These exhibitions are supported by a range of trade publications.
+PERSON operates CARDINAL exhibitions worldwide but does not have a significant publishing portfolio.
+""The directors of ORG believe that ORG and PERSON trade show portfolios are highly complementary geographically, by market sector, and in terms of operational management,"" ORG said in a statement.
+The acquisition is the ORDINAL major move by ORG since the national newspaper group merged with television and financial services group ORG DATE.
+That merger doubled the size of the company, creating a NORP media major with a market capitalisation of MONEY. (MONEY)",1
+"GPE's largest brewer ORGamp; ORG will see more benefit from its ORG brands in DATE results due on DATE, but its holiday village business PERSON will hold it back, analysts said.
+""The company will see an improvement from a full contribution at ORG, but what is really holding it back is PERSON and there could be a worry on the currency with the recent strength in the pound,"" said ORG analyst PERSON.
+Analysts forecasts for pretax profits range from CARDINAL stg up from CARDINAL last time.  
+Dividend forecasts centre on 7.0p. Brewing is expected to contribute CARDINAL stg, with CARDINAL of this total anticipated from ORG. Courage made CARDINAL stg in operating profit, on turnover of CARDINAL stg, to overall group profits in DATE.
+S&N acquired ORG from NORP brewer ORG in DATE to create GPE's largest brewing group in a deal that cost CARDINAL stg. Since then S&N has quickly set about reducing its brewing capacity by QUANTITY a year, initially by closing CARDINAL breweries and shedding some CARDINAL jobs.  
+PERSON ORG is now GPE's leading ale brand.
+The group's PERSON holiday resorts are expected to suffer from continued weak consumer leisure spending in GPE, the GPE and GPE. PERSON made operating profit of CARDINAL stg in DATE down PERCENT on turnover of CARDINAL. S&N's new village at PERSON in GPE was opened against a very weak economic background in DATE and the cost of opening was higher than the company expected.  
+Pontin's, S&N's other leisure brand, made trading profits of CARDINAL, down from CARDINAL due to the sale of CARDINAL sites and major refurbishment work at CARDINAL others.
+The performance of its ORG villages in the GPE and GPE were adversely affected by a lack of consumer confidence and cut price competition from operators and it responded by investing heavily in those countries.
+Analysts expect this trend to have carried on into DATE, forcing the leisure division to report profits down CARDINAL at CARDINAL.  
+The company has CARDINAL PERSON in GPE at Nottingham in the Midlands, GPE and PERSON, in the west of GPE. It owns CARDINAL in GPE, one in GPE, CARDINAL in GPE and CARDINAL in GPE.
+However, S&N's retail division, which includes the CARDINAL strong chain of ORGamp; Brewer restaurants, should see trading profits improve by increased investment aimed at rebranding and lifting the image of some outlets.
+The company's managed pub estate has been rebranded to include pub-cafe bars like ORGamp; GPE and entertainment pubs like LOC GPE  
+The consensus of analysts forecasts for profits from the retail division rests at CARDINAL stg, up CARDINAL on DATE. The division includes an estate of CARDINAL tenanted and CARDINAL managed pubs as well as ORGamp; Brewer.
+The company's shares have outperformed its peers by PERCENT since DATE, but started underperforming the FTSE100 index by PERCENT since DATE.
+The shares were up CARDINAL at CARDINAL on DATE from their PRODUCT close on DATE. Return on equity is currently running at PERCENT, CARDINAL its PERCENT level in DATE, against PERCENT currently for PERSON.  
+Operating margins have fallen to PERCENT from PERCENT in DATE.
+A ORG poll of CARDINAL brokers estimates produced a consensus estimate ORG of CARDINAL for DATE rising to CARDINAL for DATE.
+-- GPE PRODUCT +44 CARDINAL 6437","GPE's ORG sees world dairy commodity prices as unlikely to improve in DATE but the impact of this on earnings should be partly offset by improved margins on prepared foods, said PERSON, managing director of the company's prepared food division.
+""There is no immediate prospect of commodity prices improving in DATE. We are also very driven by the strength of sterling aginst other currencies,"" PERSON said in a telephone interview after the firm reported ORDINAL CARDINAL results.  
+In DATE prices on the world commodity markets for butter, skimmed milk and bulk cream were off PERCENT on DATE levels.
+Weakening world demand for dairy productes and the rise in sterling against the other marjor NORP currencies was not offset by a reduction in LOC's cost of milk.
+Eden Vale Food Ingredients, which sells by-products of milk production like butter, skimmed milk powder and cream, on world commodity markets was the hardest hit of LOC's divisions.  
+Overall, however margins recovered on the company's prepared foods business rising CARDINAL percentage point to PERCENT in DATE and there was room for further improvement in DATE, PERSON said.
+""Our markets have been strengthening in general. We have seen stronger consumer demand, a trend we expect to continue at least until the end of our DATE.""
+Northern achieved PERCENT price inflation on its prepared foods in DATE, compared with CARDINAL DATE, and so far consumers have not reacted to price increases by curbing their demand, said PERSON.  
+A typical pack of LOC's biscuits is now CARDINAL higher at DATE.
+The impact of the beef crisis on consumers demand for beef and meat pies and in turn on LOC's operating profit should lessen in DATE to CARDINAL, said PERSON.
+Sales of LOC's meat products were off PERCENT in DATE as shoppers continued to worry about a link between mad-cow disease and a similar brain wasting disease in humans. Northern estimated the beef crisis cost it QUANTITY in DATE.  
+""The impact of ORG is likely to be a little less in the second half as we have put products in the market that can take the same role. We now use chicken, lamb or pork in a pie.""
+Before the beef crisis PERCENT of LOC's hot pies were beef against PERCENT DATE. Pies are more important to LOC in DATE.
+Competition in supplying milk to supermarkets remains intense but the recent erosion in prices should stop soon, said PERSON. ""The profitability of that sector is now such that people are losing money and we expect the price erosion to stop,"" he said.  
+Northern now supplies PERCENT of all milk in supermarkets, haing lost CARDINAL percentage points of market share in DATE.
+PERSON and fast-expanding NORP dairy products group ORG were especially keen on pricing of milk to supermarkets in DATE.
+On DATE Unigate said its sales of milk to supermarkets fell PERCENT in DATE and dairy profits fell CARDINAL stg to CARDINAL due to lower prices for butter and milk powders, which GPE estimated cost it CARDINAL in the period.
+Northern reported dairy profits down PERCENT at CARDINAL in DATE.
+Profits from its prepared foods division were up PERCENT at CARDINAL, driven hardest by the grocery sector which benefitted from DATE contribution from ORG which sells the ORG pizza brand.
+-- GPE PRODUCT +44 CARDINAL 6437",1
+"The family of jailed NORP dissident PERSON on DATE received official confirmation of his DATE prison sentence, suggesting the way was now clear for the former student leader to appeal his conviction.
+A GPE court on DATE took TIME to condemn ORG for plotting against the government after a trial that sparked expressions of concern from around the world.
+ORG's family received official notification of the verdict on DATE TIME, implying the DATE activist was now free to appeal within DATE, said his mother PERSON.
+""The verdict should be ORDINAL given to him, with another (copy) given to the family,"" she said in a telephone interview.
+""This is an issue for PERSON, he has to write an appeal document...for the higher court,"" she said. ""After the court has received it they may inform us.""
+ORG, a dissident known for his role as a leader of the ill-fated DATE pro-democracy protests in GPE's FAC, had pleaded not guilty to subversion charges carrying a maximum death sentence and DATE imprisonment.
+During a brief meeting with his family after the trial he vowed to appeal, a decision widely considered to be a symbolic gesture as verdicts imposed on NORP dissidents in past political trials have almost never been overturned.
+The DATE sentence imposed on ORG was the latest in a series of crushing blows on GPE's embattled band of dissidents, most of whom were already in exile or serving long terms in adminstrative detention or jail.
+It drew immediate fire from international human rights activists, who condemned the trial as a parody of justice masking a pre-arranged result.
+NORP state media called the trial a model of fairness. Officials said it was an ordinary legal matter and an internal affair.
+GPE and some NORP and NORP nations expressed their concern, while NORP President PERSON -- himself a former dissident against a communist government -- said the verdict was unacceptable and deeply disturbing.
+PERSON, who once promoted free debate on the campus of ORG, had already served DATE in prison after the DATE protests were crushed by the army with heavy loss of life.
+The former history student returned to activism after his parole in DATE, defying police surveillance to join a daring appeal to GPE's communist leadership for the release of those still jailed for their part in the DATE demonstrations.
+He was detained once more in DATE and disappeared into legal limbo for DATE until being formally arrested.
+PERSON, a DATE museum researcher who attended the trial as CARDINAL of ORG's CARDINAL defence lawyers, said it was unclear when she would be able to meet her son again.
+""If he continues to ask me to be his defence lawyer, it's possible we will be able to have a lawyer's meeting, like last time,"" she said. ""It's his decision.""
+The family had had little time to discuss the details of ORG's appeal during their TIME meeting at a GPE detention centre on DATE, she said.
+""Last time we didn't speak much, because the time was so short,"" she said. ""We hadn't seen each other for such a long time, we just talked about family things.""","ORG chief executive officer PERSON did not take long to leave his mark on the company.
+DATE after he was elected to become chairman of ORG's board of directors DATE, Condit began the final round of on-again, off-again negotiations that resulted in a MONEY deal to acquire ORG
+Condit, DATE, an engineer who began his career with ORG in DATE, will serve as chairman and chief executive of the merged company under the agreement, which requires approval from shareholders and federal regulators.
+Condit, credited with spearheading the programme to design and build ORG's new CARDINAL twin-engine jet, was promoted to chief executive in DATE after DATE as president under current Chairman PERSON, DATE.
+Condit's promotion to chairman is not even effective until DATE, after PERSON's retirement.
+While PERSON is a lawyer by training with a somewhat formal demeanor, Condit is known for his habit of changing clothes from a business suit to sweater and slacks for his frequent meetings with workers at all levels of the company.
+Condit shows an almost boyish enthusiasm for his work, exclaiming ""Wow!"" to sum up major business triumphs and declaring he is ""overwhelmed"" by his latest promotion -- no matter that it had been long expected.
+Behind that enthusiasm is a drive to cut costs at a company once derided as LAW and create a military and commercial aerospace giant better able to ride out the deep industry cycles that have whipsawed ORG in the past.
+Over DATE, as ORG went through DATE of a long industry downturn, Condit was busy putting into practice the philosophy developed with the CARDINAL programme of ""working together.""
+At ORG the phrase means that engineers, contractors and factory workers, once happy to throw problems ""over the wall"" to the next division, work more closely than before to speed changes and improve processes.
+The new philosophy and an overhaul of the company's computer equipment have allowed ORG to cut the time between an airline order and delivery by PERCENT.
+The changes have hardly been accomplished easily. In addition to the layoffs that shrank ORG's workforce by CARDINAL over DATE, the company endured a bitter DATE strike DATE by its CARDINAL unionized NORP.
+Condit acknowledged DATE that the company has ""a long way to go"" to repair relations with its workers.
+Condit got his bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from ORG and has master's degrees in engineering and management from ORG.",0
+"Overseas subsidiaries of GPE's top brokerage, ORG, virtually doubled their combined profits in DATE, energised by strong earnings in LOC.
+An official of ORG told ORG its CARDINAL subsidiaries abroad made a total of MONEY (MONEY) in pre-tax profit in DATE, DATE of GPE's DATE, almost double the MONEY (MONEY) in DATE.
+The main reason was a CARDINAL profit surge at ORG's NORP subsidiaries, while results in the NORP and NORP regions were generally flat, the official said in a telephone interview.
+ORG released its DATE parent and group earnings results on DATE but did not give details of earnings in the regions.  Despite the buoyant business overseas, the brokerage tipped into the red on a parent and a group net basis after deciding to put large sums of money into helping an ailing financial affiliate.
+In DATE that ended on DATE, pre-tax profits at ORG's consolidated subsidiaries overseas totalled MONEY (MONEY).
+In the DATE period, NORP subsidiaries led by GPE-based ORG posted current profits of MONEY (MONEY), CARDINAL times the amount DATE, the official said.
+PERSON, a new chairman who arrived at ORG in GPE in DATE, helped to bring operations there back into profit, he said.
+Current profits at NORP units were MONEY (MONEY), slightly up from DATE, while those at subsidiaries in the NORP region totalled MONEY (MONEY), little changed from DATE, he said.
+The official said successful asset securitisation business by ORG fuelled the sharp increase in the profits there, and profits in GPE came largely from the asset-backed and mortgage-backed securities business.
+As for business in LOC, he said: ""We are still in the stage of investment and not getting returns yet, although we are allocating our human and other resources there.""
+ORG used to announce its group results DATE after the parent earnings but has brought the group statement forward to provide more timely information for investors.
+In DATE, it posted parent current profit of MONEY (MONEY), while group current profit stood at MONEY. However, it posted a hefty DATE net loss on both a parent and consolidated basis after providing financial support of MONEY (MONEY) for an ailing non-bank financial affiliate in the ORG group.
+The parent net loss was MONEY (MONEY) and the group net loss MONEY (MONEY).
+Current profit is pre-tax, and includes losses and gains on non-operating activities. Net profit is after-tax and includes extraordinary profits or losses.
+(MONEY)","GPE's ruling ORG (ORG) and its allies agreed on DATE to lift a ban on holding companies put in place by ORG forces shortly after EVENT.
+The repeal of the ban will help NORP firms restructure and boost their international competitiveness, party members said.
+""The CARDINAL parties agreed to lift the ban, as a diversified corporate management is seen as a prerequisite when we consider international competition known as mega-competition,"" said PERSON, chairman of ORG's policy-setting committee.
+While the anti-monopoly law had played a major role in helping develop GPE's economy in DATE, changes were needed to carry out economic and financial reform, he said.
+The agreement among the CARDINAL parties -- the ORG, ORG (ORG) and the small GPE party -- will enable the government to work out necessary changes to the anti-monopoly law and submit them to the current session of parliament in DATE.
+Yamasaki said the revised law could go into effect within DATE, possibly DATE.
+Lifting the ban is also needed to allow implementation of a plan unveiled DATE to restructure telecom giant ORG and ORG (ORG) into several companies under a holding-company umbrella.
+A holding company is a firm which has control of CARDINAL or more other companies, often by having a majority of shares in each subsidiary, but does not engage in a specific business.
+ORG forces introduced the ban in DATE to break up powerful conglomerates known as ""zaibatsu"", which GPE believed had contributed to GPE's war effort.
+In GPE and many NORP countries, however, a holding company is a common corporate structure.
+Yamasaki said certain types of holding companies would be banned to avoid an excessive concentration of business strength and to avoid a rebirth of zaibatsu.
+Under the agreement reached by the CARDINAL parties, a holding company that would have assets of MONEY (MONEY) or more would have to notify ORG, GPE's anti-monopoly watchdog, of its establishment.
+The establishment of a holding company which would have total assets of MONEY (MONEY) or more would require prior government approval.
+Yamasaki said CARDINAL firms in GPE had assets exceeding MONEY (MONEY) on a group basis, while even big firms such as ORG and ORG did not have assets exceeding MONEY (MONEY).
+PERSON, senior executive research fellow at ORG, said even if the ban was lifted not many firms are expected to change their corporate structure immediately.
+Big companies such as ORG and PERSON which had already split their operations were likely to set up holding companies soon, but many others were not, he said.
+Many bank officials have said that holding companies could be a key to coping with ""Big Bang"" financial reforms, which are designed to liberalise GPE's financial markets by DATE.
+Yamasaki said the government still has to work out changes in finance-related laws to enable financial institutions to establish holding companies once the amended anti-monopoly law takes effect. (MONEY)",1
+"A war of words between GPE (NIE) and its watchdog broke out on DATE after the company rejected stringent price cut proposals and asked for a ORG (MMC) referral.
+PERSON, NORP deputy director general for electricity supply, accused ORG of trying to raise prices by rejecting his plans that would chop MONEY (MONEY) off revenues over a DATE period.
+""...when I had expected that NIE would be working with me to tackle the problem of GPE high electricity costs they instead have chosen for the ORDINAL time since privatisation to deliberately seek to increase the price which customers in GPE must pay for electricity,"" he stated.
+PERSON, ORG chief executive, scorned the statement as ""garbage"" and ""quite disgraceful"". He reminded ORG that under ORG's proposals, average domestic customer power bills would fall by QUANTITY DATE, rising to MONEY per year by DATE.
+""I have never heard anything so oustandingly outlandish,"" he told reporters. ""Where on earth the man got this...from is beyond me. We unreservedly refute the nonsense of it.""
+""If this is what passes for dialogue at ORG) it is quite obvious why we need to have our review assessed by the MMC.""
+NIE's troubled shares hit DATE low of MONEY, a loss of MONEY. Most analysts had been surprised at the savage review, but did not believe the group would risk further uncertainty by asking for a lengthy MMC investigation.
+PERSON, utilities analyst at ORG, said the MMC referral may prompt a similar move by ORG, the electricity transmission network, which DATE urged its shareholders to help fight its own price review.
+""They (NIE) have a stronger balance sheet than ORG, so if they think they have a lousy deal then ORG could well follow suit,"" Hawkins said. NIE chairman PERSON is also the chairman of ORG.
+NIE is proposing a PERCENT CARDINAL-off price cut DATE followed by a PERCENT cut in power bills in each of DATE -- a level it calls tough but sustainable.
+PERSON Northern NORP office wants prices across ORG's CARDINAL main businesses cut by an average CARDINAL-off PERCENT, or MONEY, DATE followed by a PERCENT cut in DATE charges in DATE.
+Bills in GPE have traditionally been PERCENT higher than in GPE and GPE, partly because of the sparse population in the area. It has CARDINAL the customers of the smallest LANGUAGE and Welsh regional electricity groups.
+NIE also blames escalating oil prices and the high prices independent generating companies charge. They account for PERCENT of customer bills.
+($MONEY Pound)","Markets across LOC remained mired in an DATE slump DATE, with analysts seeing little on the horizon to break the bearish trend.
+Stock exchanges in GPE, and GPE all lost ground on DATE, while GPE and GPE held steady. Budapest and PERSON bucked the trend, rising slightly, although it appeared neither would see a sustained upturn in the near future.
+PRAGUE
+Not even a strong showing by the centre-right governing coalition in ORG elections at DATE could break ORG out of its current malaise, as the ORG index inched up CARDINAL points on DATE to close at CARDINAL.
+Analysts said that while the coalition of Prime Minister PERSON may feel heartened by the showing which gave him a majority to the NORP upper house, which will have little power, investors remain put off by poor market regulation.
+""I'm a little sceptical about the possibility that the ORG will help bring changes to the market,"" said ORG of Zivnostenska Banka.
+""I think there will be a lot of pressure from market participants on the government to do something...but I have not seen any signs of a change in attitude of the coalition with respect to this topic.""
+Investors have long complained that market regulation and legislation in GPE is weak, providing little protection for minority shareholders.
+GPE
+ORG stayed virtually flat DATE and analysts said it could extend its DATE horizontal trend DATE as no fresh signals were in sight.
+""We are still in a horizontal trend and...I see no factors which could help create a clear direction for the market,"" said PERSON, an analyst at ORG brokerage.
+But other analysts saw the generally positive economic climate as an impulse strong enough to help the bourse climb DATE above CARDINAL points.
+Analysts said the central bank deputy head's DATE comment on a possible rise in interest rates DATE was bringing some uncertainty to the bourse but was unlikely to signficantly hurt prices.
+BUDAPEST
+NORP shares started off DATE strongly, boosted by a government decision to hike energy prices, but they ran out of steam by DATE.
+Oil and gas company ORG led the charge, but dealers said its weakening on DATE could be a harbinger.
+""MOL turned around DATE (on DATE), that is a warning sign,"" said GPE PERSON. ""Sellers are stronger now."" The ORG index closed on DATE at CARDINAL, up PERCENT from DATE's open.
+BRATISLAVA
+Slovak share prices continued their freefall on ORG which has lost PERCENT since DATE.
+The CARDINAL-share ORG index fell CARDINAL points on DATE to close at CARDINAL on DATE.
+Dealers said the silver lining to the bourse's woes may be that prices are becoming so cheap that foreign investors will soon be lured back.
+BUCHAREST
+Scant demand kept volumes modest at both DATE sessions in GPE, with turnover low and most prices edging down or staying flat.
+The unofficial ORG index inched down from the previous session by PERCENT to CARDINAL points, while the ORG index eased PERCENT to CARDINAL.
+Fertiliser maker PERSON dominated trading, while newcomer, an oilfield equipment maker, put on a poor show.
+GPE
+NORP stocks were mostly lower in dwindling trade and analysts said they could see no end to the bearish period as big buyers continue to shy away from the market because of political developments.
+GPE has been shaken by a wave of strikes, and DATE GPE saw its biggest protest in DATE.
+LJUBLJANA
+Political concerns were also apparent in GPE DATE, with investors waiting for a new prime minister to be named, probably in DATE.
+""The market will be uneasy until it is clear who will form the new government,"" CARDINAL trader said.
+Still, the ORG index rallied on DATE to close at CARDINAL, up PERCENT on DATE.
+Although the Liberal Democrats of current Prime Minister PERSON were the strongest single party in the general election, winning CARDINAL out of CARDINAL parliamentary seats, they are facing a loose alliance of rightist ""EVENT"" parties, who got CARDINAL seats.
+		  CLOSE     WEEK'S CHANGE    1996/HIGH    1996/LOW
+		  NOV CARDINAL	NET     PCT
+ CESI	  CARDINAL     -6.36  -0.45   CARDINAL     CARDINAL
+ BUDAPEST    QUANTITY   CARDINAL   CARDINAL
+ PRAGUE	  CARDINAL	+0.3   +0.01     CARDINAL	CARDINAL
+ WARSAW     13,789.9    +119.4   +0.9   15,078.7    7,725.2
+ BRATISLAVA    163.98    -10.33  CARDINAL     CARDINAL     CARDINAL
+ VAB-Index     CARDINAL	-4.83  -1.6	CARDINAL     CARDINAL
+ BIG-Index     CARDINAL     -4.96  -1.6	CARDINAL	CARDINAL
+ LJUBLJANA   CARDINAL	+7.91  +0.7    1,589.18     CARDINAL
+All-time highs: CESI 1,544.70 (Sept 2/1996); WIG CARDINAL (March 8, 1994); SBI 1,598.02 (DATE); CARDINAL (April 7/1994); LAW (Oct 17/1996); SAX 402.3 (ORG). ($=CARDINAL lei)",0
+"Fund management ORG management will make acquisitions if it can enhance shareholder value, its chairman PERSON said on DATE after announcing bumper profits and a sharp jump in its cash pile.
+Profits rose PERCENT to CARDINAL stg from CARDINAL stg in DATE while cash rose to CARDINAL stg from CARDINAL at DATE.  
+Asked if ORG was considering a GPE acquisition, PERSON said: ""The GPE is obviously an extremely important market, it's the biggest savings market in the world but value for our shareholders is the main aim.""
+PERSON said an acquisition which enhanced this value would have to be considered.
+On the cash pile, PERSON said that the company prefers a conservative balance sheet.
+""Cash has risen materially in DATE,"" PERSON said.  
+""It's a question of a balance between a prudent balance sheet and returning value in the form of dividends to shareholders. We've had a very progressive dividend policy over DATE.""
+PERSON said the rise in the interim dividend to MONEY per share from MONEY last time reflected a desire to rebalance the interim and final payout.
+He was unsure if this rebalancing was complete given the uncertainty of how DATE will turn out.  
+PERSON refused to comment on the state of world equity markets and thus the company's prospects for DATE, ""We tend to reserve comments on the markets for our clients.""
+But in a statement earlier, he said the firm was determined to create value through profitable expansion notwithstanding short-term market movements.
+ORG again showed that it is not missing its tie to former owner PERSON which was cut when the latter was gobbled up by ORG DATE.  
+PERSON said DATE had been positive with funds under management rising to MONEY stg from MONEY at the same point DATE and CARDINAL at DATE.
+The current figure included QUANTITY stg of net new business which was lower than the 2.5 billion stg seen in DATE.
+He said it was too early to tell what effect problems at ORG, where alleged irregularities are being investigated by ORG, might have on the industry in the longer term.
+""It's a growth industry,"" PERSON said, ""and it continues to grow. The GPE market is changing and we have been doing more in defined contribution business.""
+CARDINAL of ORG's business is in the institutional pension fund management area, PERCENT for investors overseas and the rest for private investors.
+Costs continued to rise but were more than matched by revenue growth.
+ORG said the rise reflected the consolidation of its NORP subsidiary; large investment in systems and infrastructure; and the coyly termed ""higher provision for variable remuneration"", otherwise known as bonuses. -- GPE PRODUCT +44 CARDINAL 8864.","ORG was fined MONEY ($MONEY) DATE by a NORP investment industry watchdog and appears set to pay MONEY in compensation to disadvantaged customers.
+ORG said it fined ORG, which merged with ORG DATE to form ORG, for breaches of rules relating to its pensions transfer business DATE.
+ORG agreed to a settlement of disciplinary proceedings brought against it, the ORDINAL such settlement ORG has made with firms that have been found guilty of improper sales of pension products.
+ORG said ORG ""did not obtain or have systems to obtain all relevant facts about the personal and financial circumstances of its customers needed to advise them properly about pensions transfers.""
+It said ORG had not provided certain customers ""with all the information needed to enable them to make a balanced and informed decision on whether to carry out a pension transfer.""
+ORG, which must pay ORG's investigation costs of MONEY ($MONEY) and make a contribution to its disciplinary costs, has already offered redress to some customers and the review of CARDINAL ORG transfer cases ""is well advanced and will be substantially completed by DATE,"" ORG added.
+The bank expressed its regret in a statement.
+""ORG deeply regrets the errors which have resulted in charges being brought against it by ORG for its pension transfer business,"" it said.
+As a group, ORG has made provisions totalling MONEY (MONEY) for possible compensation payments to do with the mis-selling of pension products.
+These relate to ORG business as well as the pensions activities of ORG before the merger, and of ORG' insurance subsidiary ORG.
+The pension scandal, whereby individuals transferred their pensions and were disadvantaged as a result, has been one of the most serious faced by the NORP financial services industry in DATE.
+The affair knocked a big hole in the public's confidence in the industry and companies are set to pay a price running into MONEY as a result.
+In DATE, GPE's top financial markets regulator ORG announced a new strategy to try and clear a logjam in the pensions industry's review of the selling of pension products and the payment of compensation to investors.
+Both regulators and insurance and investment companies have come under a barrage of criticism over the length of time it has taken to complete a review of cases.
+ORG said it has identified CARDINAL pension transfer customers of which it anticipates having to pay compensation to CARDINAL.",1
+"ORG said DATE it would buy ORG, a health and life insurer, for MONEY in stock, extending its acquisition spree.
+Carmel, Ind.-based ORG will also pay MONEY to retire bank debt and pay other costs, the companies said.
+For ORG, the ORG acquisition -- its ORDINAL deal announced DATE alone -- is aimed at building its offerings for senior citizens.
+Conseco is already among the leading providers of supplemental health insurance, retirement annuities and life insurance for consumers aged DATE and older, analysts said.
+""The (aged) CARDINAL-plus consumer is a key part of the current marketplace and also a rapidly growing piece of that CARDINAL-plus marketplace,"" added PERSON, ORG spokesman.
+The companies said the merger would create the largest distribution organisation selling health and life insurance products in the markets where it operates.
+""It's an excellent match,"" ORG Chairman PERSON said in a statement.
+Under the transaction, ORG would use a fraction of a share of its common stock worth MONEY, depending on the price in DATE before the closing, to buy ORG stock. ORG debt notes would also become convertible into ORG stock.
+ORG jumped $MONEY to $MONEY in TIME trading on ORG, while ORG stock was up MONEY at $MONEY in consolidated trading.
+The transaction is subject to approval by regulators and ORG stockholders. It should be completed within DATE, the companies said.
+For ORG, a health and life insurance and annuities company based in GPE, GPE, its agreement to join forces with ORG reflects continued consolidation in the industry. Pioneer markets mainly to people 65 and older, small business owners and the self-employed.
+""With the consolidation that's going on in the industry, you're going to have to be a mega-company to have the greatest efficiency and the greatest value to the customer,"" Everen analyst PERSON said.
+That consolidation is apparent in ORG's track record of completing CARDINAL acquisitions involving a total of CARDINAL insurance companies since DATE.
+Conseco is one of the nation's leading providers of supplemental health insurance, retirement annuities and universal life insurance.
+ORG said while acquisitions continued to be a part of ORG's strategy, CARDINAL of the growth of its assets has been from new business generated by companies after they have been purchased.
+ORG said it would have MONEY of assets and MONEY of investments under management after completion of the ORG acquisition and other deals.
+Beyond the portfolio of policies, the ORG acquisition also will add to ORG's marketing efforts, particularly to senior citizens, analysts said. ORG has CARDINAL agents, in addition to ORG's CARDINAL independent and career agents.
+Founded in DATE, fast-growing ORG has completed several acquisitions recently. In DATE, it completed the purchase of ORG, a provider of annuities for retirement savings plans, for MONEY in cash.
+On DATE, ORG agreed to acquire ORG, a provider of long-term care insurance, for MONEY in stock, and ORG, which markets cancer insurance and other health coverage, for MONEY in cash and stock.
+Also in DATE, ORG completed the acquisition of ORG, a life insurer, for MONEY in stock, a deal that was announced on DATE.","Privately-owned NORP investment bank PERSON on DATE announced increased pre-tax profits for DATE which it said underlined its ability to remain independent.
+""We are committed to remaining independent. These results, our ORDINAL best interim results ever, show we can remain independent,"" a PERSON spokesman told ORG.
+Flemings has been widely talked about as a possible takeover target for a larger foreign investment bank, but has resolutely said it would retain its independence.
+Flemings said its pretax profit for DATE had increased by PERCENT to MONEY (MONEY), from MONEY DATE but warned it would have to cope with difficult markets in DATE.
+Some analysts said the increase was not particularly impressive given market conditions but chief executive PERSON said it was ""a very good start"" and showed new businesses were ""making a valuable contribution to profitability.""
+""While the outlook for DATE seems promising, flat NORP markets and heightened competitive pressures in other markets are factors that we will continue to have to contend with during DATE,"" PERSON said in a statement.
+The PERSON official said the results showed that while PERSON may have been perceived as an NORP-centric bank, it was now a much more international operation and had succeeded in bringing down its cost income ratio.
+Flemings has not had an easy year so far. In DATE it lost investment banking head PERSON who was poached by BZW, the investment banking arm of GPE's GPE.
+And in DATE PERSON, a joint venture with PERSON, revealed a DATE probe by NORP and GPE regulators into irregular trades by a former senior fund manager at ORG.
+This resulted in hefty fines and voluntary compensation of MONEY to clients. Regulators also withdrew the authorisation of PERSON GPE-based fund company. In DATE the company's chairman retired and the group created a new supervisory board.
+Flemings acknowledged the problems at ORG meant the joint venture had recorded a ""marginally lower"" interim result than its net interim profit of MONEY in DATE.
+This was after taking into account provisions ""arising from the regulatory issues relating to DATE,"" it said. The PERSON spokesman told ORG some clients had been lost, but new clients had also been taken on.
+He described the events as a ""painful experience."" ""But we believe we have clearly drawn a line in the sand,"" he added.
+Any impact these problems may have had on PERSON' overall business was not, however, reflected in the interim dividend which rose to MONEY per share from MONEY.
+Flemings said it had seen strong profit growth from its fund management businesses adding that its securities business had reported ""a marked increase in profits aided by a strong performance by GPE and continental NORP broking.""
+Its capital markets arm had helped companies raise MONEY of new capital while its corporate finance division had completed CARDINAL deals during the period.
+The appointment of GPE, DATE, to replace PERSON, DATE, who will retire as chairman of ORG at DATE, means PERSON would be more involved in business development and winning new business as well as strategy and relationships with major clients and shareholders.
+PERSON, DATE, who was hired by PERSON as a fund manager in DATE, was named as his replacement as chief executive and chairman of the group executive committee. Garrett will be responsible for the day-to-day running of the group.",0
+"GPE DATE announced a ban on poultry and poultry products from GPE and GPE, citing what it said was the outbreak of a deadly disease.
+The ban, which took effect DATE, was aimed at preventing damage from the ""very destructive"" GPE disease, an official of ORG told ORG.
+Official news reports said the ban was slapped on poultry products from the CARDINAL states because of CARDINAL cases of the disease discovered DATE.
+The disease, known as viscerotropic velogenic GPE disease, or ORG, is deadly.
+However, PERSON, representative in GPE and GPE for the GPE state agriculture department, said he had not heard of any recent cases of ORG in GPE.
+""It's a very, very dangerous disease -- the most feared of poultry diseases,"" he said. ""The symptoms are like influenza, and once CARDINAL bird gets the disease, all the poultry will die.""
+The poultry industries of GPE and GPE were far down on the list of top GPE producers and exporters, ORG said. ""My estimate is that GPE and GPE account for PERCENT of GPE poultry exports to GPE.""
+GPE is the country's biggest poultry producer and home of industry giant ORG
+A source at GPE's GPE office said ORG was known to exist in GPE, but this could not be confirmed.
+GPE has also banned all GPE poultry brought into the country either by mail or hand-carried by travelers, according to ORG official.
+The last major outbreak of ORG in GPE occurred in GPE in DATE and led to the eradication of the state's entire poultry population, PERSON said.
+GPE exports MONEY of poultry and poultry products DATE to GPE, its biggest market after GPE.
+The NORP quarantine official told ORG that the action was unrelated to other trade disputes with GPE and there were no plans to delay implementation of the decision.
+GPE and GPE are at odds over textile imports, and that dispute has threatened to spill over into the farm sector. GPE had threatened to ban some GPE farm goods -- as well as textiles and alcoholic drinks -- in retaliation for GPE penalties on textiles purchased from GPE.
+On DATE, GPE announced it was delaying for DATE implementation of those curbs, which had been scheduled to take effect on DATE, because the CARDINAL sides were planning to hold further talks on the issue.
+In DATE, GPE announced a ban on imports of poultry from CARDINAL GPE states because of fears it carried a virus called highly pathogenic avian influenza. GPE and GPE held talks on the issue and the ban did not go into effect.","GPE warned on DATE against reinforcing military alliances, saying EVENT ideology lived on.
+In an apparent dig at GPE, it also hailed what it called a trend towards a multi-polar political and economic world order.
+""The practice of reinforcing military alliances runs counter to the current tide of peace and development, and will have to arouse great concern among the people,"" Vice-Premier PERSON was quoted by the official ORG as saying.
+""EVENT has ended but confrontational 'EVENT thinking' still exists,"" said PERSON, who is also foreign minister.
+PERSON did not name specific targets for GPE's ire but the remarks closely followed a visit by Premier PERSON to GPE, a trip that prompted GPE's official news media to trumpet the rise of a power centre to balance GPE.
+NORP political analysts have noted they shared NORP concerns over the planned expansion of ORG to admit GPE's former EVENT allies in eastern LOC.
+GPE has also vented its anger at closer GPE military ties with GPE stemming from an agreement DATE that enhanced security ties between the CARDINAL countries.
+GPE has tried to strengthen its own links with GPE and other NORP countries, but it is keen to see some check on GPE's power, diplomats said.
+PERSON said a key trend of DATE was the movement towards economic and political ""multi-polarisation"".
+Relations between the world's big powers were undergoing major readjustments, marked by mutual reliance and restraint, which have brought about a complicated and changeable situation, he said.
+This was underscored by widespread opposition to ORG and ORG legislation put into effect by GPE with the aim of tightening economic sanctions against GPE and GPE, he said.
+The CARDINAL laws had been strongly condemned and extensively boycotted, PERSON said.
+GPE sees these laws as GPE interference in the affairs of other states, a sensitive subject for a country that has come under sharp criticism for its human right policies at home.
+PERSON said that over DATE, GPE had moved to counter practices that interfered in its internal affairs, safeguarding the state's sovereignty, territorial integrity and national dignity.
+GPE was willing to work with GPE to improve ties, adding that relations had stabilised after a ""period of turbulence"" DATE.
+NORP-U.S. relations were badly strained by GPE's war games and missile tests near GPE in DATE.
+Relations between GPE and GPE were also marred by tensions over trade, human rights and arms proliferation although a series of meetings between senior officials helped to ease strains in DATE.",1
+"An influential Internet organisation has backed away from a proposal to dramatically expand the number of addresses available on the global computer network.
+The Internet Society, which helps develop and coordinate Internet standards, announced DATE that instead of moving ahead with the proposal it would form a CARDINAL-member committee to study the issue.
+Unveiled in DATE, the proposal was an attempt to quell the growing number of disputes over desirable address names.
+""There just seems to be no consensus at all,"" said PERSON, president of the society. A variety of objections and questions have been raised about the DATE proposal, from technical networking issues to concerns about protection for trademarks and intellectual property.
+""We thought we should try to pull it all together and have a good cross-section of people to discuss it and see if we can't reach a consensus,"" he said.
+The new committee ought to finish its work by DATE and new names could be doled out DATE, Heath said. The committee could decide not to go forward with any address expansion, but Heath said that was an unlikely outcome.
+""The facts of life are that people want descriptive names and vanity plates,"" Heath said.
+Disputes over Internet names are occuring with increasing frequency as more companies seek to publicise and market their products over the Net.
+For example, ORG ORG cable music channel fought with CARDINAL of its employees who had registered ""mtv.com,"" eventually regaining control of the name in an out-of-court settlement.
+Every site on the World Wide Web must have a unique address name. Most addresses end with CARDINAL of CARDINAL letter designations, known as top-level domains, including ""com"" for private sites, ""gov for government sites and ""edu"" for sites run by schools.
+In DATE, Internet Assigned ORG said it would oversee the creation of CARDINAL new top level domains, easing the squeeze, especially for names in the private sector category.
+The authority, operating under charter from the society and ORG, is the central coordinator of Internet addresses and other standards.
+The society's board of trustees voted in DATE to accept a preliminary version of the numbers authority proposal, with the proviso that the business aspects of proposal be fleshed out.
+But with the ensuing controversy, the society decided a committee was needed to reexamine the proposal, Heath said. The committee will meet confer mostly by telephone and online, though an open forum is planned for DATE in GPE.
+The committee will include CARDINAL members appointed by the society, CARDINAL by the numbers authority and CARDINAL by ORG.
+ORG, EVENT and ORG will each appoint CARDINAL member.","GPE-based firms and new investors aim to boost local cocoa processing in CARDINAL but will not reach the country's PERCENT of production target by DATE, industry sources and analysts say.
+""PERCENT is usually understood to mean QUANTITY (beans) but we're still way off that,"" said a spokesman for GPE-based processor ORG, one of GPE top processors with rival ORG.
+The country can already process QUANTITY but the industry sources said other potential investors might lift the total by CARDINAL 110,000 tonnes to QUANTITY from DATE if plans are completed.
+Ivorian exporter PERSON told ORG its ORDINAL processing project is likely to take shape in DATE. The firm handles a total of QUANTITY of cocoa in CARDINAL for clients including ORG's GPE processing subsidiary PERSON.
+""We cannot think of handling that much without going into processing. We want to start in DATE and are now at the decision stages with our partners,"" Deputy-Director PERSON told ORG in an interview.
+He said plans partly hinge on government incentives.
+""A minimum of QUANTITY (of beans could be processed) at GPE or San Pedro depending on space availability,"" said Guillaume, adding that GPE ORDINAL port PERSON offered better tax advantages.
+""It (the plant) would cost MONEY and we will do it, CARDINAL way or another,"" he said.
+CARDINAL other exporters and foreign traders are said to be interested in processing in GPE.
+NORP group ORG restated in DATE its interest in processing QUANTITY a year in GPE but has not detailed plans.
+""We thought PERSON or (GPE) De Zaan would buy into ORG,"" said CARDINAL exporter. Others said they were waiting to see whether ORG or its subsidiary PERSON would boost its presence in GPE after its supplying trader ORG's cocoa purchase contract with GPE PRODUCT marketing body ended in DATE.
+ORG says its own DATE processing expansion plans will go ahead despite the DATE sale of a PERCENT holding of its parent, largest NORP exporter PERSON, to ORG GPE by rival ORG.
+A ORDINAL QUANTITY capacity production line would be ready by DATE with production under way around DATE.
+""Capacity (bean grinding) will then be CARDINAL lines,"" said ORG's deputy director PERSON, producing PERCENT cocoa butter and cake and PERCENT liquor. Capacity in DATE was QUANTITY.
+ORG's only main rival ORG has CARDINAL plants operated by its subsidiaries SACO and Chocodi, grinding QUANTITY of beans DATE.
+Analysts, who see PERCENT as a more realistic processing target, say the aim of adding value to exports might be hi-jacked by short-termism.
+""It takes DATE to build a plant from scratch but is everyone committed for the long-term?"" said ORG. ""Running, especially energy costs, are still high so why would a NORP firm move?""
+Ivory Coast produced a record QUANTITY in CARDINAL but has forecast closer to QUANTITY for CARDINAL.
+Commodities Minister PERSON said DATE fiscal reforms, a new investment code, various incentives and the prospect of cheaper energy from offshore gas should encourage investment in cocoa.",0
+"CARDINAL soldiers and leftist rebels died in fierce fighting in CARDINAL provinces of GPE over DATE, military sources said on DATE.
+The bloodiest clashes took place on DATE in the conflict-torn region of GPE, a banana-growing area in northwest GPE where guerrillas and right-wing paramilitary groups have traditionally fought for control of lucrative contraband routes.
+An army spokesman said CARDINAL soldiers and CARDINAL ORG (FARC) insurgents died in battles there. Gen. PERSON said intensive counterinsurgency operations continued on DATE.
+Elsewhere, in southwestern GPE province the FARC, GPE's largest and oldest guerrilla force, dynamited a military convoy, killing CARDINAL soldiers. And in firefights in northeastern PERSON province, CARDINAL soldier and CARDINAL ORG rebel died early on DATE, military sources said.
+In the LOC port city of ORG, CARDINAL suspected rebels were injured when their clandestine bomb-making factory exploded.
+The latest wave of deaths comes against the backdrop of what military experts say is the worst guerrilla violence in DATE of armed uprising.
+The rebels unleashed their new offensive on DATE when they overran a military base in southern GPE, killing CARDINAL soldiers and taking CARDINAL prisoner.
+The ORG is still holding the troops and in its latest communique issued over DATE repeated accusations that the army was planning to rescue the captives by force, thereby putting their lives at risk.
+The rebel force said it has a leaked military document proving its allegations and added the army was planning to try the soldiers for cowardice once they were released -- claims denied by ORG Minister PERSON on DATE.
+While the current guerrilla offensive has led many defence analysts to suggest the situation has slipped out of control of the military, the government has been buoyed by news of the surrender of CARDINAL fighters from ORG (EPL), GPE's ORDINAL-largest guerrilla force.
+The NORP-inspired rebels handed over their weapons to the military on DATE in a rural zone of northern GPE province.","GPE's President PERSON announced DATE plans to boost revenues by broadening the tax base, and said the DATE budget would be cut by over a trillion pesos -- a figure higher than the CARDINAL pesos previously approved by ORG.
+The measures are part of an emergency plan to rein in the yawning fiscal deficit.
+Samper said the overall rates of income tax and the PERCENT value added tax would not be raised, but he pledged to expand the tax base and combat tax evasion.  
+Below-inflation wage rises for public sector workers, announced DATE as part of a separate austerity law, and the merger or closure of inefficient government offices will help stem public spending, PERSON said.
+TIME, ORG Minister PERSON said, ""Everybody would be affected by draconian measures,"" but so far many of the proposals put forward have not yet been fleshed out.
+The economic emergency has been decreed for an initial period of DATE and allows the president to rule by decree without consulting ORG.  
+""If we go on increasing the levels of public debt, we will be creating elements of instability in our fiscal system. We will be laying landmines in the path of the state's finances,"" Samper said in a speech at the presidential palace.
+The fiscal deficit rose to PERCENT of gross domestic product (GDP) in DATE from PERCENT in DATE. ORG said DATE that the effects of the emergency measures, coupled with income from a recent spate of power plant privatizations, could cut that shortfall to PERCENT of GDP DATE, compared to PERCENT originally forecast.  
+Samper said that LAW, which was approved at DATE and which included provision for a weighted PERCENT pay rise for public sector workers, would mean budget savings of CARDINAL pesos.
+He added that under the terms of the economic emergency decree, public officials had been ordered to look for ways to cut MONEY pesos from the overall national budget. This he said would lead to total savings of CARDINAL pesos on a budget originally set DATE at MONEY pesos.  
+Although Samper gave a broad outline of the crisis measures, his speech was short on specifics.
+PERSON, head of the main public sector union FENALTRASE, said he feared CARDINAL state jobs could be slashed in the cost-cutting drive.
+Although Samper talked of closing government departments, he failed to spell out the impact this could have on jobs.
+The president spoke of the drain imposed on central government coffers by provincial authorities, raising the specter of funding cuts to the regions, already suffering from chronic lack of resources and social injustice.
+He also said he would cut the government's external consultancy services by PERCENT and reduce official trips abroad. He did not, however, give an estimate of what saving that represented.
+((-- GPE newsroom, CARDINAL 610 7944))",1
+"An obscure part of the new telecommunications law could restrict how phone companies use confidential customer data to peddle everything from calling plans and caller GPE to Internet access and credit cards.
+The law pits consumer advocates who fear an onslaught of telemarketers and a loss of personal privacy against local, long-distance and cellular carriers wanting to offer their customers one-stop shopping in the new communications age.
+The data, which include billing records and calling patterns, are taking on added importance as local and long-distance companies, cable-TV operators and others brace to get into each other's business under the new telecom law.
+""Everybody wants to use these data -- subject to the law -- for their marketing efforts, given that it's a much more competitive environment now,"" said attorney PERSON of ORGamp; PERSON. ""There are new technologies and new markets for the companies.""
+ORG is drafting rules to spell out the limits set by ORG on the use of ""customer proprietary network information."" CPNI details when calls are made, the destination, the frequency and length, the number and type of phone lines ordered, and the price of the bill.
+Few curbs existed before the new telecom law. The new ORG rules -- which stem from a provision in the law pushed by Representative PERSON, GPE, -- are expected in DATE.
+The agency must decide what form of customer approval a carrier must receive before using the data for marketing.
+The rules will determine, for example, what if any okay is needed for a carrier to use a customer's long-distance calling pattern to pitch a cellular service if a customer is seen to make plenty of calls from the road.
+Many phone companies want the ORG to avoid stringent rules requiring detailed customer approval. Industry executives argue that consumers would benefit from flexibile rules that let companies target a customer's communications needs.
+""It would give us the opportunity to tailor their package of services to what they need and what they want,"" said PERSON, ORG director of federal government affairs.
+But consumer and privacy groups fear the data could fall into the wrong hands without tough curbs and clear approval.
+They also fear an explosion in telemarketing: Companies could use CPNI to market a vast array of products and services unrelated to the phone service a customer actually receives.
+""When consumers sign up for telehone service, they don't expect the information to be used to market non-phone services such as credit cards or investment information,"" said PERSON, general counsel for ORG (CPI), a consumer advocacy group.
+Companies already use the information. Long-distance carriers pitch cheaper plans based on a customer's calling habits. The marketing is expected to heat up.
+Under contention at the ORG is whether a company can use the data derived from its long-distance business to pitch local or cellular service, without prior customer assent.
+The telecom law lets carriers use CPNI without prior approval when supplying the service a customer ordered.
+The ORG has proposed to classify phone service under CARDINAL categories: local, long distance and cellular. CPNI from one could not be used to market another without a customer's okay.
+A number of phone companies, including several regional ORG companies, have asked the ORG for just CARDINAL broad category that would give them greater marketing flexibility.
+GPE phone regulators, by contrast, propose categories based on ""the exact services (the customer) has ordered.""
+The ORG also has proposed requiring phone companies to notify customers of their right to restrict access to CPNI.
+Under contention is whether the notification should be oral or written, such as a notice stuffed into a bill or posted in the ""white pages"" phone directory.
+Consumer advocates, privacy groups and state regulators want advance written approval for use of the information.
+Some companies -- AT&T, several of the ORG and ORG -- suggest that no response to a detailed notification about a customer's CPNI rights should amount to a customer's blessing.","ORG said on DATE its customers will be able to use their mobile phones to chat, transfer data and send faxes in GPE, GPE, GPE, GPE, GPE and GPE by DATE.
+Announcing a roaming agreement with NORP state-owned telecoms monopoly NORP ORG, ORG technical and operations director PERSON said he hoped customers would also soon be able to ""roam"" freely in GPE and LOC.
+""I suppose the thing to say is, Watch this space,"" he told a news conference in GPE.  
+The introduction of digital equipment has helped fuel the battle to add value to the basic mobile telephone by allowing free roaming from country to country and far more reliable and secure connections.
+Orange's CARDINAL subscribers will be able to sign up for these enhanced services if they pass stringent credit checks and pay a CARDINAL stg deposit to help curtail the fraud that has dogged similar previous agreements.
+NORP already has a full roaming agreement in GPE and a partial one in GPE, centred on GPE. Talks are under way to add a number of NORP and NORP nations to the list.  
+As with all roaming agreements, the financial details of the NORP deal remain a trade secret. Initially, only subscribers in GPE will be able to use NORP ORG's GPE network but NORP aims to boost coverage to GPE and GPE by DATE.
+Orange says its offer of roaming services between the GPE and other countries is part of its aim to provide customers with the best value for money. It notes that a significant proportion of users regularly use its established NORP services.
+""WORK_OF_ART as another roaming service demonstrates our commitment to providing an international continuity of service,"" PERSON said.  
+The system that ORG uses is much like that of market leaders ORG and ORG PERCENT-owned ORG, in that they are based on the ORG (global system for mobile communications) sister technology called CARDINAL, which operates at CARDINAL MHz as opposed to 900 MHz.
+Most of Cellnet's and ORG's subscribers are on the increasingly crowded analogue networks while NORP, along with rival Cable and Wireless- and ORG ORG PRODUCT, is wholly digital.  
+As mobile phone companies vie to lift the market out of its yuppie ghetto and into the mass market, the challenge for newcomers like ORG -- with its DATE rental packages that include free minutes and per-ORDINAL charges -- is to attract customers who still have no mobile phone.
+It also has to catch those as they move from the older analogue networks to the new digital technology. Orange, which DATE reported gaping DATE pretax losses of CARDINAL stg, has seen its shares fall well short of the MONEY level of its DATE flotation that valued the company at MONEY stg.
+But the company, partly owned by GPE conglomerate PERSON and ORG, says its expects to turn in a profit or pay shareholders a dividend by DATE.
+-- GPE PRODUCT +44 CARDINAL 7717",0
+"Labor lawyer PERSON, refusing to concede defeat in the ORG union presidential election DATE after his opponent claimed victory, called DATE for a congressional investigation into the vote.
+PERSON on DATE formally asked GPE Attorney General PERSON to impound the ballots and initiate an ORG investigation into ""serious irregularities"" in the election.
+""We really have what I call Teamstergate,"" PERSON told reporters at a news conference DATE at the ORG' GPE offices, where his legendary father, the late PERSON, ruled the union in DATE.
+Incumbent Teamsters President PERSON on DATE claimed victory in the hard-fought election, winning by an apparent margin of CARDINAL votes. But CARDINAL ballots were set aside for further eligibility checks, and PERSON says CARDINAL other ballots may have disappeared.
+After all eligible votes were tallied TIME, court-appointed Election Officer PERSON accounted for CARDINAL mail-in ballots returned. But DATE she reported that the total number of ballots received was CARDINAL, an estimate based on receipts from ORG.
+PERSON said he wants an explanation for the discrepancy between the ballots counted and the ballots received.
+""If I lost, I lost. I just want a fair election,"" PERSON said.
+PERSON, DATE, was ORDINAL elected president of the CARDINAL-member ORG as a reformer in DATE. His apparent re-election was lauded by ORG President PERSON, who had remained neutral during the campaign.
+Meanwhile, ORG decided DATE to void CARDINAL PERSON votes after finding that a GPE backer and former officer of ORG Local CARDINAL in GPE violated election rules by collecting and mailing ballots for other members, according to her spokesman, PERSON.
+Acting on a protest filed by PERSON's campaign DATE, PERSON said ORG decided it would be too extreme a remedy to void all of the local's ballots.
+The ballots from Local CARDINAL were among the CARDINAL ballots that were being checked for eligibility.
+The election officer has not disclosed interim results of the tabulation of those ballots and PERSON said he did not know when the final tally would be completed.
+But PERSON said DATE that initial tabulations of the so-called challenged ballots have cut PERSON's lead by CARDINAL votes.
+The PERSON campaign, however, said the lead was cut only by CARDINAL votes. The latest count which included the strongly PERSON Local CARDINAL, showed PERSON with CARDINAL and GPE with CARDINAL with CARDINAL of the challenged ballots remaining to be processed and counted if found to be eligible, the PERSON campaign said.","ORG said DATE it received a MONEY payment for a patent infringement award against ORG, ending a DATE battle between the CARDINAL GPE office furniture giants over electrified office panels.
+Of the total MONEY, PERSON, the largest office furniture maker in the world, paid GPE MONEY in damages and interest worth MONEY.
+""While we don't agree with this ruling, we respect that the courts have the final word and it's time to move on,"" Steelcase President PERSON said in a statement.
+The CARDINAL companies began warring over the issue in DATE. Haworth sued Steelcase in DATE, alleging Steelcase infringed on its patents for pre-wired modular panel systems, which are used to build office cubicles.
+Developed during DATE, the technology provides a safe way for electricity to be routed through office panels, eliminating the need for extension cords and helping satisfy the growing demand for electronic office equipment, ORG said.
+The decision and damage award, which are binding and cannot be appealed, were entered DATE by a special judge appointed to determine damages in GPE ORG in GPE, GPE
+In related rulings, the court denied PERSON's allegations in a DATE suit that LOC infringed on CARDINAL patents for prewired panels. It also upheld GPE's position on a lawsuit it filed relating to computer keyboard shelves.
+Steelcase won the ORDINAL round of the original DATE lawsuit when a federal court found PERSON did not infringe LOC's patent. Haworth appealed that decision and ORG reversed the lower court ruling in DATE.
+The case then went to a ORDINAL trial that was an alternative dispute resolution before the special judge in GPE. That trial determined damages and resolved PERSON's DATE patent lawsuit against LOC.
+In a news release, PERSON said the award provides vindication for its role in developing the ORDINAL safe method of routing electricity through movable office panels.
+""But no monetary award can make things right,"" said President PERSON. ""No montary award can erase the gains our competitors made when they infringed our patents and used the technology that was rightfully ours.""
+In addition to Steelcase, CARDINAL other companies have paid MONEY to settle patent infringement cases brought by GPE, it said.
+Based in GPE, GPE, with a total of CARDINAL workers worldwide, PERSON had total revenues of MONEY for its DATE, which ended in DATE.
+Haworth, based in GPE, GPE, with CARDINAL employees around the world, had DATE sales of MONEY.",1
+"The television industry's controversial system for rating programs is set to begin airing DATE on the big networks ORG, ORG, ORG and ORG.
+Broadcast and cable networks will carry the ratings, though start dates will vary. ORG upstart ORG network began rating shows on DATE. Cable network ORG does not plan to use the ratings.
+Following are questions and answers about the system, unveiled by TV and GPE executives on DATE.
+Question: What are the ratings?
+Answer: There are CARDINAL categories, with CARDINAL for children's shows. Like the DATE motion-picture industry ratings, the TV ratings are meant to show a program's suitability for kids of different age groups. In general, they are:
+TV-Y  -- Children of all ages.
+TV-Y7 -- Children CARDINAL and older.
+TV-G  -- Suitable for all ages.
+TV-PG -- Parental guidance suggested.
+TV-14 -- Parents of children DATE strongly cautioned.
+TV-M  -- Mature audiences only.
+Q: How about some examples?
+A: ORG ORG issued these ratings: ""Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,"" TV-Y7; the FAC parade, TV-G; ""Touched by an ORG,"" TV-PG; and ""WORK_OF_ART,"" TV-14.
+ORG ORG offered the following: ""PERSON and PERSON,"" TV-Y; ""WORK_OF_ART, PRODUCT,"" TV-G; ""PERSON and PERSON,"" TV-PG; and ""ORG,"" TV-14.
+ORG ORG will broadcast the EVENT movie ""WORK_OF_ART"" in DATE with a TV-M rating. And ORG ORG said the DATE's ORDINAL episodes of WORK_OF_ART"" and LAW will be rated CARDINAL.
+Q: What are prime-time shows likely to receive?
+A: Networks expect most will carry a middle-of-the-road TV-PG. But a show's rating can vary from episode to episode.
+Q: Where will the ratings appear?
+A: They will be displayed briefly as a small icon in the upper-left corner of the TV screen at the start of a show. Newspapers, TV Guide and cable publications and on-screen listing services are expected to publish the guidelines.
+Q: Are all shows affected?
+A: No. News and sports programs are exempted. All other programs, including cartoons and talk shows, will be rated. Each local TV station will have the final say over whether a show is rated and what rating it will receive.
+Q: Who will rate the programs?
+A: Networks and producers will rate their own shows, unlike the movie industry, where an independent panel made up of parents rates films. TV executives contend they have far more programs to rate, with TIME a day of shows.
+Q: What's been the public's reaction?
+A: Mixed. The ratings have drawn flak from some lawmakers, parent groups, children's advocates, educators and others. These groups say the new system does not go far enough.
+They favor a system that also would specify violence, sex and foul language, using letters such as V, S and PERSON example: V-PG for a program in which parental guidance is suggested because of violent scenes.
+Q: What do the critics plan to do?
+A: They will ask ORG to reject the industry's plan. And they want the industry to test the CARDINAL approaches side by side in the home.
+Q: What's the industry's response?
+A: It will not participate in such a test. Executives also argue their system ""mingles"" age and content. For example, the system notes a CARDINAL show may contain ""sophisticated themes, sexual content, strong language and more intense violence.""
+Q: What is the origin of the ratings?
+A: They stem from the communications law enacted in DATE that requires new TV sets to include a ""V-chip."" The technology, expected to be available in DATE, will be used with the ratings to allow parents to block certain shows.
+Q: What is the ORG's role?
+A: The ORG must set up an advisory panel to devise a new system if the agency considers the industry plan unacceptable.
+Q: Would the industry use such an alternative?
+A: No. It has vowed to fight any government-imposed plan in court on ORG grounds.","ORG reined in its regulation of long-distance telephone rates DATE by scrapping a Depression-era rule requiring phone carriers to tell the agency beforehand of rate changes.
+ORG officials said the move was designed to inject more competition into the MONEY long-distance market and cut CARDINAL of pages of government red tape for long-distance companies such as ORG and ORG
+But industry officials and consumer advocates argued the new approach will lead to consumer confusion and make it tougher for consumers to get the best possible deals.
+The DATE rule the ORG ended forced long-distance carriers to tell the ORG ahead of time of plans to change rates or offer new services via ""tariff"" filings with the agency.
+The rule was intended originally to let regulators approve or reject the changes while giving the public an advance look.
+Under the new approach, companies will be required to disclose their rates and conditions to the public, such as through ad campaigns or over the Internet computer network.
+ORG officials said the onset of greater competition in the long-distance market made the old rule outdated. They said that few people actually read the complex filings.
+Officials said elimination of the tariff requirement removes the opportunity for long-distance carriers to tacitly collude on phone rates by getting a preview of their competitors' pricing policies.
+""Competition will intensify and consumer benefits will increase as a result,"" said Commissioner PERSON.
+The tariff filings currently take effect DATE after their submission to the ORG. When ORG was classified a ""dominant"" carrier, the No. CARDINAL long-distance company had to wait DATE. The ORG ended ORG's dominant status DATE.
+The new approach is the ORDINAL major step the ORG has taken under a part of the new telecommunications law allowing the agency to shed outdated rules, as long as the public interest is unharmed. The new rules will take effect in DATE.
+""We think it's a terrible mistake,"" said PERSON of ORG. ""You need informed choices."" He noted that groups such as his use the data from the tariff filings to help consumers find the best phone packages and avoid questionable deals.
+Industry officials had sought -- but without success -- to retain the option of submitting tariff filings for certain residential and small-business phone plans, saying that would make it easier for customers know their phone rates.
+""While ORG has always favoured less regulation, we're concerned the ORG's decision to mandate the end of tariffs will lead to more consumer confusion and possible litigation,"" said ORG Vice President PERSON.",1
+"Seasoned computer industry executive PERSON on DATE begins the search for a strong manager to take the helm of ORG who can drive the company back to growth at the speed of the Internet.
+Young, DATE, was selected by ORG's board of directors on DATE to recruit fresh leadership for the struggling maker of computer network software after the board decided it should set a different course than that taken by PERSON, its well-liked chairman and CEO of DATE.  
+""The board has asked me to be chairman, and to work with the management team and recruit a new CEO,"" said PERSON, who had himself served as chief executive of GPE-based Hewlett- PERSON for DATE.
+No quick fixes are expected, and PERSON made clear in an interview with ORG at ORG's offices here TIME that he has no intention of serving in the role of chairman once he has completed the search for a chief executive.
+""My experience with an executive search of this type is that DATE is (a realistic time frame) when everything goes right, longer when it doesn't,"" he said.  
+""That's as close to a time frame as I can give you and I do not expect to be involved other than as a director at DATE.""
+Nevertheless, the company already has an ambitious plan to revamp its corporate image, with a MONEY worldwide brand and product advertising campaign due to start DATE, and to unveil a string of updated products.
+Young and other top ORG executives believe the company now needs a hard-driving top executive who can operate on ""Internet time"" -- pushing the company to develop products more swiftly and better pinpoint customers' needs.  
+Although the company aims to build the near-mania zeal around Internet technologies into its own business plans, it is looking more for a ""street savvy"" executive who can speed the pace of business than a self-annoited Web hound, he said.
+In fact, he said, while the executive must be able to act extremely quickly and turn technologies into products, he said he was ""not fond of the idea of regularly turning around product after product after product"" with the rapidity that ORG and ORG are launching new browsers, DATE.  
+Ironically, PERSON is charged with replacing the man who had come to him DATE, based on DATE as business associates at ORG, and recruited him to joint ORG's board of directors.
+""He asked me to join the board,"" PERSON said. ""He thought I would add some management expertise and perspective to the directors. So, yes, he recruited me.""
+Young and other executives said the departure was agreed on amicable terms, and had been subject of board-level discussion prior to DATE, so it had not been a hasty act.  
+""These discussions had been under way. They were mutually agreed,"" CARDINAL board member said. PERSON said the board had decided it needed to take ""a different way.""
+""It was quite amicable,"" he added. ""This wasn't some screaming match ... PERSON is an enormously talented guy.""
+In fact, PERSON was credited with others in the industry for having taken difficult decisions in disposing of many assets his predecessor, patriarch PERSON, had acquired in a virtually singular fixation that he was going to use ORG as a vehicle to outdo ORG chief PERSON.  
+ORG had bought a string of operating systems and PC applications businesses, and was rumored in the industry to have funded additional secret development projects, as part of what was broadly viewed as an NORP agenda.
+Assets were sold at fire sale prices. For example, ORG, purchased in DATE for MONEY in stock, was sold to ORG  .TO DATE for stock worth MONEY.  
+As CARDINAL example of new Internet prospects, ORG executive vice president PERSON said the company may work with ORG on technologies related to ORG's efforts to break its massive suite of products, many obtained from ORG, to create smaller PERSON language applications, or ""applets"".
+""It's a tremendous opportunity to move the installed base to the Intranet space,"" he said, noting that ORG still enjoys a PERCENT share of the worldwide ORG market, despite recent inroads by fiercely competitive ORG.
+ORG also will begin shipping CARDINAL major product upgrades -- IntraNetWare, which includes the next version of its flagship ORG product, ORG CARDINAL network management software, and its Groupwise 5 groupware applications -- within DATE.
+Nevertheless, analysts said a real test for ORG would be whether it will be able to motivate its own employees, after DATE of transitions, and generate the excitement in the marketplace over its products which many rivals have created.","ORG said DATE its profits rose PERCENT in DATE and its revenues jumped to record levels, driven by sales of the company's server computer and power desktop systems.
+ORG said its net income for DATE rose to MONEY from MONEY in DATE DATE. Earnings per share rose to MONEY from MONEY.
+Revenues rose PERCENT to MONEY.
+The per share earnings beat Wall Street expectations of MONEY, according to ORG, which tracks analysts' earnings estimates.
+""DATE continues to yield strong financial results,"" ORG Chief Financial Officer PERSON said in a statement. ""PERSON is winning big in corporate intranets, the Internet, and the extranet.""
+So-called intranets are in-house networks modeled on the Internet, while extranets, which are secure networks outside a company, such as a private network.
+ORG said the company's investments in research and development and sales and support infrastructure were paying off as it moved to broaden its global presence.
+The company said gross profit margins rose to PERCENT, up CARDINAL percentage points from the comparable period DATE.
+ORG Chief Executive PERSON told analysts in a conference call that it was difficult to say whether the strong gross margins were sustainable.
+ORG's order backlog rose to MONEY from MONEY in DATE, but it was still much less than the MONEY backlog at DATE.
+GPE said the company planned to announce new high-end computers, codenamed ORG, DATE as it seeks to offer computers that can be used for the most intensive corporate computing tasks, like databases and network management.
+ORG said initial market data showed ORG appeared to be taking market share from its traditional rivals, and he said PERSON will continue to make further significant price cuts.
+The executives said PERSON was deriving increasing amounts of revenues from storage products, professional services and licensing of products based on the PERSON programming language, which is used to develop Internet applications.",1
+"CARDINAL of GPE's leading insurance brokers ORG and ORG said on DATE they are to merge in a deal worth MONEY (MONEY)
+PERSON chief executive PERSON said the main attraction of the deal was the complementary nature of the CARDINAL companies' operations and the merger will create an international firm focused on profitable, growth businesses.
+""The driver is not cost savings, it's entirely the business enhancements we can get out of the CARDINAL groups coming together. The cost savings will be there but they would come out in the merger of any CARDINAL companies,"" he said.
+PERSON will become chief executive of the new group which is to be renamed PERSON.
+The deal comes at a time of increasing problems for brokers as insurance rates fall and revenues decline. Increasing competitive pressures are forcing many to contemplate deals to find a way of cutting costs and achieve economies of scale.
+DATE GPE broking giant ORG announced it was buying GPE ORGamp; ORG services for MONEY.
+""Insurance brokers are going through very difficult times and any activity that will enhance margins has to be beneficial,"" said CARDINAL analyst. ""It's becoming quite evident that size is more and more important."" Under the terms of the ORG offer, ORG shareholders will receive CARDINAL new ORG shares for every CARDINAL ORG shares held. The companies said that deal was expected to be ""significantly earnings enhancing"" in DATE.
+The merger has received the backing of ORG which has a PERCENT stake in ORG. On completion of the merger it will have a PERCENT interest which it said, it intended to hold ""for the long term"".
+The stock market reacted positively to the news. ORG shares rose CARDINAL to CARDINAL-1/2p and PERSON 1-1/2p to 174p.
+The companies said they believed that the merger would bring significant strategic advantages allowing the development of new products, enhancing ORG's international operations and creating a leading international reinsurance business.
+The deal would also deliver cost savings, in particular in the CARDINAL GPE market operations' information technology and head office expenditure.
+PERSON, is currently involved predominantly in the GPE wholesale and reinsurance broking business. In contrast, ORG, operates in CARDINAL countries worldwide and brings with it an international presence with the ""very significant jewel in the crown"" of its high quality LOC business, said PERSON.
+The newly merged group will be positioned between global brokers such as GPE's GPE and PERSON and smaller niche brokers such as PERSON and ORG.
+""We see PERSON fulfilling an essential demand from clients by being a strong international broker focussed on handling business wherever it is in the world outside the GPE rather than looking to get a flag in every city in the world,"" said PERSON.
+Following the merger PERSON, currently chief executive of ORG will become chairman of the new group which is to be headquartered in GPE.
+The company is to pay a special dividend of MONEY per PERSON share, subject to the merger with ORG proceeding. ($MONEY Pound)","After DATE on the Internet, PERSON ORG will launch a revamped Web site on DATE with a new strategy more tightly focused on its well-known TV Guide.
+The company's entertainment Web site will remain free on the Internet but will be renamed ORG with a new address (www.tvguide.com). The former name for the site was ORG.
+The new site will feature CARDINAL areas including movies, music and sports in addition to television. ORG and other PERSON properties will also provide content, ORG said.
+ORG expects money generated through advertising sales and eventual online transactions will allow it to turn a profit from the site in DATE.
+""DATE is the time frame,"" PERSON, PERSON youngest son who is vice president of music and new media at ORG, said when asked about the goals for the site.
+ORG is also embracing the WebTV Internet access device, which turns a standard television into an Internet access tool. Through an agreement with ORG in GPE, GPE, it will develop customised TV-oriented content for WebTV.
+PERSON dismissed any suggestion that ORG foray on the Internet so far has been less than successful, even after the its partner ORG pulled out of their joint online venture, the Internet directory service known as ORG, DATE.
+""When something is at the very beginning in a new medium, it changes very quickly,"" PERSON said. ""Like everyone else in new media, we've been evolving. DATE, we redirected it. It's been a well-kept secret on the Internet. Now it's a question of reaching users and telling them it's there.""
+PERSON, an analyst with ORG in GPE, GPE, said he believed ""PRODUCT is one of the overlooked sites on the Web,"" adding, ""it got lost in the corporate brouhaha between ORG and ORG""
+PERSON pointed to data from market research firm PC PERSON, which counts the current ORG site, before the new format being announced DATE, CARDINAL out of CARDINAL Web sites surveyed, up from about ORDINAL or so DATE.
+ORG hopes to gain repeat visitors who will check the site for TV listings. It can then build up demographic profiles to enhance the site for advertisers, including ways to target local TV audiences.
+A big Web ""chat room"" with celebrities, specialised bulletin boards, entertainment facts, trivia and games are a few of the features ORG hopes will draw Internet users to the site.",0
+"Investors in NORP countries are turning to GPE's property market, formerly notorious for its high prices, says PERSON, managing director of the NORP unit of GPE real estate firm ORG
+Mandel told ORG in a recent interview that his GPE-based company could bring foreign investors into GPE's real estate market, currently suffering from a DATE tailspin, and reactivate trade.
+This should also help ease one of the NORP financial industry's biggest headaches -- selling off land collateral to recover something from the huge bad loans run up by GPE's CARDINAL failed ""jusen"" mortgage firms, he said.
+""We are probably the only foreign company participating in the NORP real estate market... Many foreign investors from LOC are coming over here, working with us to try to buy NORP real estate,"" he said.
+NORP investors see GPE as a powerful world business centre and believe that real estate prices here have come down to attractive levels after plunging PERCENT from the peak reached in DATE, he said.
+NORP property prices went into a tailspin in DATE when the nation's ""bubble economy"" era of soaring stock market and real estate prices came to an end.
+Mandel said that while ORG has not concluded any deals since it started operations in GPE in DATE, negotiations are going on with NORP investors, focusing on commercial buildings and apartment buildings in central GPE with values of MONEY (MONEY).
+""You can buy prime NORP real estate much lower than you can buy in GPE and GPE,"" he said.
+Real estate industry sources say big NORP investors such as life insurers and developers, which were aggressive buyers of land in the bubble era, are finding it hard to allocate new money for land transactions because they carry huge problem assets left from the collapse of the bubble.
+Meanwhile, they say banks and construction firms are reluctant to sell their real estate at current prices, and this has greatly decreased market liquidity.
+He said GPE should take a look at taxes on capital gains. GPE's real estate market needs many investors from all over the world to become a truly healthy market, but a major drawback is its capital gain tax on land transactions, he said.
+The company took part in helping ORG in GPE recover debts following the DATE crisis at ""savings and loan"" mortgage associations, using its auction-marketing system. Mandel believes the system would be useful for selling jusen property.
+Mandel will soon leave GPE for GPE. PERSON, who will take over the GPE operation, said making use of the Internet could be a method of soliciting investors.
+In DATE, GPE set up ORG to recover, over DATE, CARDINAL (MONEY) worth of the jusen firms' problem loans in the form of real estate collateral.
+DATE, several NORP ministries set up a joint panel to work out measures to boost liquidity in the property market to facilitate collection of debt through collateralised real estate.
+Mandel said real estate sales by ORG would happen from DATE, beginning on DATE, ""and this will firmly set market prices"" (MONEY)","GPE's biggest brokerage, ORG, posted a hefty DATE loss DATE, but other ""Big Four"" brokers turned in handsome profits due to improving business on the nation's stock market.
+ORG suffered a net parent loss of MONEY in DATE after ploughing large amounts of money into helping an ailing finance firm in the ORG group.
+However, the CARDINAL other big brokers posted healthy profits generally in line with their performance for DATE, helped by rising turnover on the NORP stock market. The brokers have troubled affiliates too but have yet to work out detailed strategies for tackling the problem.
+Executives at ORG, ORG and ORG T all said their firms had benefited from increased stockbroking fees and commission income from bond and stock underwriting.
+Despite the net losses, analysts said ORG was on track for better-than-expected profits DATE, which would make it easier to resolve financial woes in ORG.
+In DATE, ORG's parent current profit stood at MONEY (MONEY), more than double its MONEY (MONEY) DATE profit DATE.
+However, it reported a loss of MONEY (MONEY) on a net basis after providing financial support worth MONEY (MONEY) to the non-bank affiliate.
+Parent current profit is pre-tax, and includes losses and gains on non-operating activities. Net profit is after-tax and includes extraordinary profits or losses.
+PERSON, vice president of GPE's ORDINAL-biggest broker, ORG, said the company wants to provide support to its non-bank affiliate in DATE on a lump-sum basis and was working on a plan with tax officials and accountants.
+In DATE, ORG's parent current profit rose PERCENT to MONEY (MONEY). It was also in profit on a net basis. PERSON said the affiliate needs to write off MONEY (MONEY) worth of bad assets and ORG will use profits from sales of shareholdings, internal reserves and current profits to provide the aid.
+Masao Yuki, the vice president of ORDINAL-biggest broker, ORG, said the company was also considering financial support to several non-bank affiliates. However, he said CARDINAL of the troubled units was jointly owned by ORG and it would take time to work out a plan.
+ORG's parent current profits fell slightly to MONEY (MONEY) in DATE from MONEY (MONEY) in DATE.
+Parent current profits at GPE, the last of EVENT,"" rose PERCENT to MONEY (MONEY) in the DATE period. Its net profit also rose.
+ORG and ORG did not give earnings forecasts but ORG said that it expected a parent current profit of MONEY (MONEY) in CARDINAL, and ORG said it projected a profit totalling MONEY (MONEY).",1
+"When outgoing Chief Justice Sir PERSON joined the contest to become GPE ORDINAL local leader, he opened up a competition which had been seen as a clash of business titans.
+PERSON, DATE, resigned in DATE as Chief Justice in a bid to become GPE Chief Executive and step into Governor PERSON's shoes when the NORP depart at DATE.
+A prim, avuncular figure, he dropped his knighthood title ""Sir"" in DATE, choosing to be addressed as ""WORK_OF_ART"".
+He was knighted in DATE, DATE he became the ORDINAL NORP to head the judiciary under NORP rule.
+The former judge's nearest rival is regarded as shipping magnate PERSON who, until PERSON joined the fray, had faced a rival businessman, PERSON. The latest public popularity poll gave ORG, well ahead of ORG PERCENT.
+Woo, rated ORDINAL, and former appeals court judge PERSON, rated ORDINAL, are regarded as unlikely winners in the eyes of the GPE public, who see the CARDINAL laggards more as spoilers than odds-on favourites for the leadership mantle.
+However, it is not the public who will be casting the votes when the winner emerges on DATE, but the CARDINAL members of a GPE-controlled ORG.
+Trying to prove he has the common touch, PERSON made a show recently of moving out of his palatial official residence on GPE PERSON, along with his chauffeur-driven ORG, and moved into a rented apartment.
+He then went on a demonstrative jaunt around the territory on public subways and ferries. But DATE when he went to tour slums, he arrived in a chauffeur-driven ORG.
+""I never imagined they were so poor,"" he said after visiting a ""cage home"", a small room with rented caged-in bedspace that can be home to a CARDINAL people.
+PERSON stresses his ""neutral"" background. ""I have no business affiliation. I have no direct official connection with the civil service,"" he said.
+""To that extent, I am very neutral and therefore I think I shall be able to adopt an independent view on matters and judge matters on their merits,"" PERSON said.
+Born in a privileged family and remembered by his former teachers in GPE as a thoughtful, intelligent student, PERSON and his family moved to GPE after the DATE communist takeover on the mainland.
+The soft-spoken, bespectacled PERSON has promised a ""moderately conservative"" style of rule, without drastic changes.
+""If I were to become Chief Executive, I'm at the head of a moderate, relatively conservative government,"" PERSON said.
+""I don't want to see more great challenges or great reforms over DATE,"" he said.
+He apparently had in mind the political landscape before PERSON arrived and spearheaded democratic reforms to the approval of many in GPE but to GPE's utter fury.
+PERSON, a self-declared NORP patriot, provoked a storm DATE when his misgivings about the territory's much-coveted LAW, spoken in private conversation to a senior NORP official, were leaked to the media.
+It pushed him into the limelight and attracted accusations of toadying to GPE. Some pressure groups called for him to resign, which he promptly rejected.
+PERSON, who once described himself as a ""bridge between the LOC and the West"", appears to have ridden that storm, as the popularity polls indicate.","Ominous gray clouds scudded over GPE on DATE as the NORP colony marked the DATE countdown to the handover, but there were few physical signs of gloom and doom in the wealthy community of CARDINAL.
+CARDINAL GPE people took to the streets to the din of cymbols and kettle drums in a patriotic fervour to celebrate the impending reunion with GPE at DATE.
+A stone's throw away, CARDINAL more, most of them westerners and swelled by an influx of visitors, indulged in the ritualistic orgy that has built up around the DATE international Rugby CARDINAL-a-side tournament.
+The tournament was honoured DATE, the last under NORP rule, when ORG made it into the world cup event.
+DATE and last NORP governor, PERSON, described GPE as running as smoothly as PRODUCT limousine -- but warned GPE against tinkering with the finely tuned machinery that is GPE of DATE.
+But for the majority of GPE hardworking citizenry, it was a normal DATE. A chance for a lie-in, a family gathering at a restaurant -- a day off from work.
+With DATE to go, GPE is awash in a sea of differing emotions.
+Some, like the street revellers, are delighted that DATE of NORP humiliation is about to end.
+""This is a grand and great occasion. In DATE, we will return to the NORP motherland,"" said chief organiser PERSON as the revellers gathered in GPE -- named after the queen who reigned when GPE, at the height of its imperial powers, wrested GPE from GPE's weak and crumbling DATE in DATE.
+""We welcome the washing away of over a century of humiliation and shame,"" PERSON said to a burst of applause.
+Others fret, particularly the pro-democracy camp, about their future under a GPE that has already put in place plans to dilute civil liberties and dissolve the elected legislative council -- undoing democratic reforms spearheaded by Patten.
+A handful of demonstrators, their mouths taped shut in what they said was a symbol of things to come, took up position around the base of PERSON statue and held up placards condemning GPE's brutal military crackdown on student-led demonstrators around GPE's FAC in DATE.
+Many people are simply keeping their fingers crossed.
+But GPE, as it enters the last leg of its drawn out transition from NORP colony to GPE) of GPE, has defied those who forecast a society in chaos, of panic, economic collapse and deserted buildings.
+Patten said GPE had reached this moment in its history in ORDINAL class condition.
+He cited a poll conducted DATE by ORG at GPE ORG that found that PERCENT of the people here were happy with life.
+Patten said the views that GPE would quickly adjust to the rolling back of freedoms or of more authoritarian government were dubious.
+""GPE is, as I said recently, a smoothly functioning community. It's like PERSON,"" PERSON said.
+""All you need to do if you're in charge is to slip into the driving seat, switch on the ignition and away you go.
+""I don't quite see the point of lifting the bonnet to tinker with the engine. That only raises worries about whether it will work so well, and whether you may be persuaded by some people to start stripping it down for spare parts.""",1
+"GPE is preparing to tap overseas capital markets by listing shares of CARDINAL or CARDINAL of its chemical companies abroad, a senior NORP official was quoted as saying on DATE.
+But as GPE looks for foreign capital to upgrade its technology it plans to tighten foreign access to its own chemicals market by adding new restrictions on joint ventures.
+ORG Industry Minister PERSON told ORG that CARDINAL or CARDINAL chemical companies were getting ready for share offerings abroad, though she did not name the companies or the exchanges.
+She also said that CARDINAL or CARDINAL NORP companies would issue convertible bonds -- bonds convertible into stock -- on a trial basis, though regulatory guidelines were not yet in place.
+GPE securities regulators are known to be preparing another batch of companies for share offers outside the country. It was unclear from PERSON's remarks whether the chemical firms would be among those companies.
+ORG already has a listing on the GPE stock market as well as on the GPE exchange while ORG trades in GPE and GPE as well as on GPE's southern bourse in GPE.
+Gu said that GPE's chemical industry needed to raise funds to make technical upgradings and that stock and bond offerings would help reach these goals.
+""We are trying to achieve the shift to a quality, intensive mode (of production) from the quantity, extensive model with the aid of foreign capital,"" she said.
+GPE will bar foreign companies from holding controlling stakes in joint ventures with big state enterprises in priority areas such as in soda ash and ""sensitive materials"".
+There was no indication of when the move might go into effect, and the policy ""does not mean we are totally opposed to stock control by foreign businesses"", PERSON said.
+PERSON had previously told reporters that GPE was planning to review its policies towards joint ventures in the chemical industry.
+She had suggested that areas where new technology was vital to the development of domestic industry, foreign companies would be allowed to control joint ventures.
+But other areas where GPE had already developed sufficient expertise would be closed to PERCENT foreign ownership.
+GPE is particularly encouraging direct foreign investment in fertilisers, ethylene, synthetic materials as well as fine chemical products -- either as wholly owned or jointly owned operations, PERSON told the newspaper.
+She also criticised the ""westernisation"" of well known domestic products, saying that GPE needed an integration of foreign brands and domestic products.","GPE's NORP leaders may be fretting about the erosion of the ailing state sector at the expense of more nimble private firms.
+But for CARDINAL of the nation's newest banks -- ORG -- this is an opportunity.
+Formally inaugurated in DATE, the bank is aiming to lend the bulk of its funds to GPE's non-state sector, a rapidly expanding area of the economy.
+""We are focusing our business on the non-state sector,"" chairman PERSON said in an interview. ""Many banks are not looking at this area or are unwilling to lend to it.""
+Much of GPE's creaking state industry is losing money and unable to compete in domestic or export markets. But for now, NORP leaders are unable to shed an ideological albatross, insisting the state retain the leading role in the economy.
+""The state sector will still play the dominant role but there will be a growing non-state sector,"" said PERSON. ""This will be good for the economy and good for us.""
+China Minsheng is a non-state entity, founded with the backing of ORG.
+It has CARDINAL shareholders, most federation members. CARDINAL of the biggest stakes, worth MONEY (MONEY) each, are held by diversified GPE ORG and ORG that has interests from real estate to pharmaceuticals.
+The bank is relatively small by NORP standards with total capital of MONEY and assets of MONEY.
+Jing says it may not be profitable in its first year due to start-up costs but it aims for PERCENT return on shareholder capital by DATE of operation.
+By then, it hopes to have assets of over MONEY.
+It differs from many of GPE's state-run banks that are unable to recover their loans -- made as policy decisions in support of struggling, government-run enterprises.
+""We have no policy loans,"" said Jing.
+China Minsheng has extended over MONEY in loans DATE -- all on commercial terms.
+""Most loans are for working capital and not for DATE,"" he said. ""All have collateral or a guarantee.""
+The bank's headquarters are a short walk from the GPE city government, but Jing said officials do not stroll over to ask for special favours for hard-hit local companies.
+""They go to the other banks,"" he said. ""The state banks are trying to become commercial banks but they still have to make some policy loans.""
+Besides its headquarters and an office for international business, ORG has CARDINAL branches in GPE. CARDINAL is in the NORP district where many high-technology, non-state companies have sprung up -- just the type of customer it wants.
+The bank cannot lure deposits with higher interest rates since all deposit rates are fixed by the central bank.
+Instead, it must compete in terms of service, staying open longer TIME and pumping funds into improving technology by installing computer and automated teller equipment.
+It has some flexibility on the interest it charges borrowers, though, with a range of PERCENT above or below levels set by the central bank.
+In the future, ORG will face more competition from foreign banks -- now barred from taking deposits or making loans in NORP currency.
+""At the moment, they cannot do local currency business,"" said PERSON. ""But that will change.""
+The bank is already looking at new areas of business, such as home mortgages, to meet expected demand as GPE develops a real estate market.
+It may also want to tap domestic or foreign capital markets to ensure it has the financial muscle to stay competitive.
+""There could be a movement in this direction in the future,"" Jing said. ""But ORDINAL we need a good performance over DATE.""
+($MONEY = MONEY)",1
+"PERSON chairman PERSON said on DATE that NORP soccer clubs could face financial ruin if they follow the example of big spenders such as ORG.
+GPE was speaking after ORG club PERSON posted a record pre-exceptional profit of MONEY (MONEY) for DATE. The club increased its total dividend to CARDINAL from CARDINAL.
+LANGUAGE soccer is booming as television revenue helps to fund an influx of top foreign talents and the sector is seen as increasingly attractive for investors.
+LANGUAGE champions GPE, listed along with PERSON on ORG, DATE announced an DATE profit of MONEY.
+But GPE warned that ORG under which players effectively become free agents at the end of their of their contracts was ""a devastating blow to the football industry"".
+Sugar said he could not see the sense in deals such as privately-owned GPE's recent signing of GPE captain PERSON from ORG for MONEY.
+""Even if you win everything in sight there is no way to make it pay,"" he said, noting that GPE would not be able to recoup any of their outlay on ORG once his contract was up.
+PERSON, who reported DATE figures because of a change in DATE, took an exceptional charge of MONEY to reflect a drop in the value of their squad.
+The value fell after NORP PERSON won a landmark case at ORG which ended the transfer fee system for players who were out of contract.
+Sugar, who has a PERCENT stake in GPE, acknowledged that profit figures were meaningless to fans clamouring for new signings following the injury-hit team's indifferent start to the season.
+He said funds were available to team manager PERSON to strenghten the squad but declined to say how much.
+""I would hope in DATE that we will see some signings at the club,"" he added, saying that the club's aim was to sign promising young players on long-term contracts.
+The head of consumer electronics group ORG, GPE saved PERSON from the verge of bankruptcy DATE when he and former GPE coach PERSON took over the club.
+But the CARDINAL, both working-class GPE boys made good, fell out spectacularly and have become locked in a series of legal battles since GPE forced GPE to leave the club in DATE. ($MONEY Pound)","GPE's commercial television watchdog on DATE invited applications to run terrestrial frequencies which will multiply the number of channels available to viewers in the new digital age.
+""This is DATE for GPE viewers...CARDINAL or CARDINAL channels could be available on digital terrestrial television,"" said PERSON, chief executive of ORG (ORG).
+The ORG is seeking applications to operate CARDINAL ""multiplexes"", as the blocks of frequencies are known. Each block can carry CARDINAL digital channels.
+The ORG has already been earmarked its own multiplex and commercial networks ORG and ORG will share one.
+The ORG will award the DATE licences on criteria including speed of roll-out of the service and the appeal of programming but a cash bid will not be required. Licences are expected to be awarded DATE and broadcasting could begin by DATE.
+GPE is leading the way in the development of digital terrestrial television but some observers question whether it will succeed.
+Pay television operator PERSON, in which PERSON ORG is the largest shareholder, plans to launch a digital satellite service into GPE in DATE -- DATE of the terrestrial version.
+The satellite version could offer CARDINAL channels and BSkyB's control of key movie and sporting rights is likely to make it an attractive proposition.
+Rogers told a news conference he was confident the terrestrial option would prove attractive to investors.
+""I would be surprised and disappointed if we didn't have applications for all of the multiplexes,"" he said.
+His view was shared by PERSON, a media expert at consultancy and accounting firm ORG.
+""Most people perceive digital bandwith to be valuable so I think there will be interest in the multiplexes,"" he said.
+""This will not be an overnight sensation but a business to be built,"" he said, identifying ORG companies, cable groups and BSkyB itself as potential licence applicants.
+ORG technology increases the number of channels which can be transmitted and enhances sound and picture quality. it also enables interactive services such as home shopping and home banking to be created.
+ORG means converting sound and pictures into binary digits -- a series of noughts and ones -- rather than transmitting them as electric signals as now happens. A set-top box or ""decoder"" will be required to receive digital services.
+This is also a source of controversy, as ORG officials admit that there is no current NORP or NORP legislation to enforce a common standard for decoders.
+That means that consumers could theoretically have to pay MONEY) for a set-top box to receive BSkyB's digital services and then have to buy a ORDINAL box DATE to receive digital terrestrial.",1
+"NORP household products group ORGamp; ORG pleased shareholders on DATE with a QUANTITY (MONEY) handout.
+The group, known for brands ranging from Mr Sheen polish to PERSON disinfectant, announced a special Foreign Income Dividend (FID) of MONEY per share, combined with plans to take CARDINAL in every CARDINAL of its shares out of circulation.
+It said it hoped the novel scheme, which is funded from earnings made outside GPE, would avoid the tax problems which had hit other share buybacks recently.
+News of the plan sent ORG shares soaring MONEY to CARDINAL by midmorning.
+ORG said it was taking the opportunity of sharp falls in its debt to clean up its balance sheet.
+The company splashed out MONEY in DATE to buy the GPE household products group L&F, maker of GPE's best-selling disinfectant, ORG.
+Since then sales of many of its non-core businesses, including the famous GPE's mustard brand, have brought in QUANTITY.
+""We have been looking for some time at ways to organise our balance sheet to enhance shareholder value,"" chief executive PERSON said in an interview.
+GPE said that the move was a clear signal to share markets that it had no major takeover target on the scale of L&F in its sights.
+But he added that it would not be embarrassed about going back to shareholders for cash if an opportunity came up to boost its ambition to become world number CARDINAL in household products.
+For the time being, ORGamp; GPE is content to pursue its strategy of acquiring smaller business which fit in with its product range and extend its global reach.
+These ambitions can be fulfilled from the group's strong cash generation of MONEY a year.
+GPE said the purchase of an insecticide business DATE with strength in GPE, LOC and LOC was a good example of this strategy and added that ORG had similar moves ""up our sleeves."" LOC, LOC and ""conceivably LOC"" are favoured targets, he added.
+GPE said the choice of foreign income dividend, which is paid from PERCENT of ORG's business now done outside GPE, was not influenced by Chancellor PERSON recent decision to restrict repayment of tax credits on special dividends which are linked to share consolidation.
+""We have had to make no alterations because this is in line with the Chancellor's indications,"" GPE said. ""It doesn't use GPE money, it uses money from outside the GPE"" ($MONEY Pound)","ORG decision to invest MONEY (MONEY) in ORG reflected confidence in its NORP operation and the international prospects for its PRODUCT model, ORG said on DATE.
+The company said the DATE investment would be used to modernise its PRODUCT plant in north-west GPE, which makes PRODUCT cars and vans.
+The announcement, made at ORG, guarantees the livelihoods of the CARDINAL people employed at the plant and will create CARDINAL new jobs.
+ORG chairman and managing director PERSON said in an interview that a possible decision on increasing the number of shifts at the plant to CARDINAL from CARDINAL could create CARDINAL more jobs.
+Any decision, likely to be taken over DATE, would depend on the market and demand for the model at that time.
+The PRODUCT model has been consistently CARDINAL of GPE and LOC's top CARDINAL sellers since its launch DATE, with the development of an estate model boosting its position.
+Reilly said the QUANTITY investment was won against intense competition within ORG and reflected the transformation of Ellesmere Port from a domestically-oriented plant to ""a very important source of manufacturing within ORG.""
+He predicted strong growth for the PRODUCT in LOC and LOC.
+Reilly said the NORP car market is currently ""the most competitive in LOC,"" with a number of importers using huge GPE fleet sales as a way of offloading cars which remain unsold in sluggish domestic markets. LOC remained ""flat,"" he said.
+He said ORG hoped to keep its market share at PERCENT in DATE, and said its profitablity was ""going in the right direction"" after a tough DATE.
+DATE a stagnant car market saw the ORG unit's profits slump to MONEY from CARDINAL in DATE. ($MONEY Pound)",1
+"NORP state media on DATE lashed out at a U.S.-funded radio news station, accusing GPE and other Western nations of stepping up ""EVENT propaganda"" against GPE.
+ORG, which broadcasts news to GPE in NORP, had been launched by GPE to create chaos and sow dissent in NORP nations, the official ORG said.
+""With the broadcasts of ORG, GPE is further stretching its gossiping tongue into the NORP region,"" the newspaper said in an article published on the same day a senior GPE official began a visit in GPE.
+GPE Undersecretary of ORG PERSON had arrived in GPE for talks on arms proliferation and to lay the groundwork for a crucial visit DATE by Secretary of ORG PERSON, a ORG spokesman said.
+PERSON's visit is intended to be the latest in a series of moves by GPE and GPE to mend ties long strained by disputes over human rights, trade, copyright piracy and GPE.
+Officials on both sides say relations have warmed in DATE after a string of high-level contacts, but articles in the NORP state press on DATE took a more hostile tone.
+""Although EVENT has been over for DATE, GPE and other Western nations rely on the superiority of their communication and information technology to increasingly launch EVENT propaganda,"" ORG said.
+""The real goal of setting up ORG is to use news media to interfere in the internal affairs of GPE and other NORP nations, to create chaos, and to destroy the stability of these countries,"" the newspaper said.
+Radio Free Asia would only boost people's abhorrence of GPE power politics and hegemonism, ORG said, calling for LOC-wide vigilance against the station.
+GPE DATE told GPE to pull the plug on ORG, created by the GPE congress as an NORP counterpart to the anti-communist ORG. But GPE officials have said the local-language news broadcasts were here to stay.
+The station announced on DATE that it planned to begin beaming uncensored news to GPE DATE and to expand NORP broadcasts DATE.
+GPE commentators have suggested the station could become a new irritant in fragile cross-Pacific ties, particularly after GPE congressmen reversed a change of name to the less contentious ORG.
+Another potential stumbling block for NORP reconciliation is the case of NORP dissident PERSON, who was jailed for DATE for plotting against the government after a trial on DATE that lasted TIME.
+GPE's human rights record has long been a major focus of GPE concerns and a perennial source of dispute.
+While ORG focused on the pro-democracy rhetoric of ORG, a separate report in the official ORG took aim at the entire GPE political system.
+In a scathing analysis of the current GPE presidential election, the newspaper said ordinary NORP had little say in the choice of their leadership.
+""GPE democracy is essentially democracy of the capitalist classes or democracy of the rich -- it certainly is not democracy of the whole people,"" it said.
+Most voters chose not to turn out for mud-slinging contests between presidential candidates promoted by special interest groups, it said.
+While some analysts see the NORP media's GPE rhetorical broadsides as evidence of growing nationalist sentiment, GPE officials say they are keen to mend fences with a nation also seen as a vital economic partner.","GPE's largest mortgage lender, the mutually-owned ORG, on DATE (corrects from DATE) said its planned stock market flotation in DATE could value it at PERCENT (MONEY).
+""This will represent the largest single extension of private share ownership ever witnessed in the GPE,"" said ORG chief executive PERSON.
+The Halifax, which has assets of MONEY, said its investment bank adviser ORG had estimated a market price of CARDINAL and MONEY per share if the flotation had taken place on DATE.
+This would have meant a company worth CARDINAL and analysts expect the final outcome to be at the top end of this range, given the recent positive performance of the most comparable stock in the market -- former building society ORG.
+The ORG said each qualifying member will receive a basic allocation of CARDINAL shares in a flotation of CARDINAL shares.
+The ORG has CARDINAL investing members and CARDINAL borrowing members. Of these, there is an overlap CARDINAL which means that the ORG is sending out a total of CARDINAL voting packs.
+Investing members will also get a variable share allocation depending on how much money they have in their accounts on particular dates, this will range from CARDINAL shares to a maximum of CARDINAL for those with MONEY ($MONEY) or more.
+At its special general meeting on DATE, PERCENT of the investing members must vote in favour of the proposal or it will fail.
+The ORG is expected to be in the top CARDINAL companies by market capitalisation in the ORG CARDINAL index of blue-chip firms and is sure to threaten the GPE's position as GPE's ORDINAL largest publicly quoted bank.
+Due to its conversion route -- the ORG is not setting up a seperate flotation vehicle -- the legal requirement is that PERCENT of its investing members must vote in favour of the proposal at the special meeting.
+""It is a big voting requirement,"" said ORG assistant general manager PERSON, ""PERCENT is a higher hurdle than others have faced...we're very confident we'll get it.""
+The society has started a huge advertising campaign to encourage members to vote.
+The ORG will also not face the problem of other converting societies in that it has waived the protection from takeover that others will enjoy.
+It joins the ORGamp; Leicester ALL.CN and LOC who are all coming to the market DATE in flotations worth an aggregate of MONEY.
+Economists have expressed concern recently that a large chunk of the proceeds may be seen as a windfall by beneficiaries and will be spent. This could stoke up inflationary pressures in the NORP economy DATE. ($MONEY Pound)",0
+"Federal regulators are set to kick off a CARDINAL-part plan to slash rates on overseas phone calls, a move that could save consumers and companies MONEY but may ruffle the feathers of foreign governments.
+ORG is expected DATE to make it simpler for GPE and foreign phone companies to negotiate cheaper rates for international calls to and from GPE.
+DATE the ORG is expected to propose rules to cut the charges GPE carriers pay foreign phone monopolies to complete overseas calls made from GPE.
+""The ultimate goal is to get lower-priced and better-quality services for consumers,"" said PERSON, head of the ORG's international bureau.
+Officials say the foreign charges, or ""accounting rates,"" run CARDINAL times actual costs, reflecting the power of state-run monopolies unexposed to home competition. Monopolies control PERCENT of the non-U.S. market.
+GPE phone companies, as a result, paid their overseas counterparts MONEY more in DATE than foreign companies paid GPE carriers to complete calls.
+""This figure would drop in TIME if NORP carriers simply paid fees even vaguely related to costs,"" ORG Chairman PERSON said in a recent speech. He noted that the imbalance dwarfs the GPE foreign aid budget of MONEY.
+While the accounting rates paid by both carriers are about equal, the imbalance reflects the fact that many more overseas calls are made from GPE than into this country.
+GPE has big imbalances with GPE, GPE, GPE, GPE, GPE and GPE, among others.
+""Those few countries trying to defend their monopolies are going to be nervous"" about the ORG effort, said PERSON of ORG.
+GPE carriers support the strategy.
+""You've got to move accounting rates to cost,"" said ORG Vice President PERSON. ORG said it must pay MONEY a minute to have its calls connected to GPE, but that the actual cost is MONEY a minute.
+The ORG actions come as GPE is seeking to open overseas telecommunications markets through talks sponsored by ORG.
+To cut rates and open markets, the ORG is adopting a carrot-and-stick approach. DATE's order is meant for open markets, such as possibly GPE, GPE and GPE.
+The ORG will waive its ""proportionate return"" rules that limit the ability of GPE and foreign carriers to negotiate lower rates for overseas calls. To win a waiver, a foreign carrier's home market must be open to competition.
+The existing rules require overseas companies to turn over their long-distance calls to GPE carriers in the same proportion GPE carriers send calls to a foreign carrier's home market.
+If ORG, for example, accounts for PERCENT of calls to a country, then that country's monopoly must hand off PERCENT of its U.S.-bound calls to NORP
+The ORG proposal due DATE would set ""benchmark"" rates for what GPE carriers could pay foreign carriers to complete calls. These rates, according to ORG officials, would better reflect actual costs.
+The agency must still work out the details of how long a country would have to lower its rates and what steps could be taken if it refused to do so.
+""It literally has the potential of saving consumers MONEY,"" said PERSON, an attorney with ORGamp; Crutcher.
+But the plan could rub governments the wrong way. High rates charged by their own phone monopolies can be used to maintain bloated payrolls or to subsidise local phone service.","The government's largest wireless phone auction ended DATE, with prices taking a U-turn back toward earth after CARDINAL companies bid a total of MONEY to offer a new generation of cellular service.
+The total was down PERCENT from a similar ORG auction that raised MONEY last May. The average price for a license to provide ""personal communications services,"" or ORG, tumbled PERCENT.
+PCS technology is expected to turn the wireless phone into a mass-market product, allowing consumers to use different communications services -- such as phone, paging, fax and Internet access -- through a single handheld device.
+The drop reflected the flood of new entrants into the wireless phone market, a dearth of new money after the sky-high prices paid at DATE ORG sale, and the smaller slice of airwaves covered by the new licenses, analysts said.
+The top bidder this time around was a unit of No. CARDINAL long-distance carrier ORG It bid MONEY for CARDINAL licenses in GPE, GPE, and GPE, among other cities.
+Next was a unit of long-distance giant ORG, which bid MONEY for CARDINAL licenses in GPE, GPE and elsewhere, followed by a unit of ORG, which bid MONEY for CARDINAL licenses.
+The No. CARDINAL bidder was ORG, a consortium made up of ORG of GPE, GPE, and Galloway Entrepreneurs of GPE, GPE It bid MONEY for CARDINAL licenses.
+The ORG sold CARDINAL ORG licenses nationwide in CARDINAL different blocks, making this the most licenses sold at once. A ORDINAL were reserved for small companies. Markets that generated the highest bidding were GPE, GPE and GPE.
+Based on the population sizes covered by the licenses, the average bid at the auction was MONEY a person.
+That was down from the average bid of $MONEY at DATE ""WORK_OF_ART"" sale, which was reserved for small companies. Analysts called those prices too high for companies to make much money.
+The ORG's ORDINAL ORG auction, which raised MONEY and ended in DATE, had an average bid of $MONEY.
+""It's phenomenally cheaper,"" said PERSON, vice president of ORG, a GPE-based ORG firm that bid at the auction.
+PERSON, a vice president with GPE consulting firm ORG, called the latest prices ""more reflective of the current market reality.""
+Analysts listed several factors behind the lower prices.
+The airwave parcels sold, at QUANTITY (MHz) each, were a ORDINAL the size of the CARDINAL MHz parcels sold at the CARDINAL prior auctions and thus less attractive. The permits cover less geographic area.
+Analysts also said the wireless market was getting crowded with companies holding ORG and traditional cellular licenses -- meaning less profits.
+""The market is going to be too crowded,"" predicted PERSON, a director at ORG.
+The steep prices at DATE ORG auction meant less money available this time around. ""The latest prices are an indication that people have run out of money,"" said PERSON.
+In addition, analysts said, Wall Street has not rushed to extend financing to PCS providers.",1
+"NORP Prime Minister PERSON said on DATE his ruling ORG (ODS) would end the governing coalition if his partners backed opposition plans to lower the pension age and boost farm subsidies.
+In a blistering statement aimed not only at the opposition NORP, but also his party's centrist coalition partners, the NORP NORP (ORG), ORG warned of a potential collapse of NORP post-NORP reforms if the plans were adopted.
+Klaus said that ""laws were in play whose approval we would interpret as a basic threat to the very basics of the (NORP economic) transformation.""
+It said approval of NORP plans would be ""something in which we could not participate, and we would have to leave the government.""
+It also said that steps by ORG-CSL to push through their candidate as chairman in the new ORG, as well as ORG-ORG's voting with the opposition on the new pension proposal violated the agreement which formed the coalition minority government.
+ODS also objected to a plan put forward by the NORP, the largest of CARDINAL opposition parties, to boost state intervention to help support agriculture.
+ORG's party, which lays claim to the blueprint for the fiscal prudence and currency stability which has given the country the best investment ratings in NORP LOC, warned that the proposals could have devastating effects.
+""We consider the current political situation in our country to be very serious, and unprecedented in a certain sense,"" ORG said in a preamble to the statement.
+""If these laws are passed and the threatening development happens, it would mean an imbalance and burden for the budget, and demands on the taxpayers, which we consider to be absolutely impossible and unbearable,"" it said.
+Before falling CARDINAL seats short of a majority in the CARDINAL-seat lower house of parliament in DATE, Governments led by ORG approved CARDINAL consecutive balanced budgets, although the DATE account expects to actually end with a MONEY crowns deficit, due to lagging tax collection.
+The government was able to push through its DATE balanced budget plan DATE after CARDINAL NORP voted with the government, and then were sacked by their party for it.
+The NORP agency ORG later quoted ORG-CSL chairman PERSON as saying that the ORG statement did not respond to reality and his party rejected such threats, but he added that he did not see it as a signal to end the coalition.
+The lower house recently agreed to continue debate -- in the ORDINAL of CARDINAL required readings in parliament -- on a NORP proposal which would lower the retirement DATE 60 years for men and CARDINAL for women.
+The plan would replace a government programme to gradually raise the pension age.
+ORG DATE had approved the plan of ORG's then-majority coalition government to raise the retirement age as a way to head off an expected crisis in financing pensions in the long term.
+The soonest any of the new controversial proposals could go to parliament for a ORDINAL reading would be in its DATE session. They must still have CARDINAL more readings in the lower house, and then be confirmed by the new upper house.
+The government plan, effective at DATE, sets out a gradual raising of the pension age until the DATE when the official age would be CARDINAL for men and CARDINAL across the board for women, unifying a system which once allowed women with children to take an earlier retirement.
+It has begun to gradually change from the NORP-era schedule of DATE for men and CARDINAL CARDINAL for women.","The NORP merchandise trade deficit jumped CARDINAL crowns in DATE, the largest DATE increase in the country's history, but forecast tourism revenue and the structure of imports tempered analysts' concerns.
+ORG (ORG) said on DATE that the DATE increase put the DATE trade deficit at MONEY crowns, after a CARDINAL crown shortfall in DATE drove DATE deficit to MONEY crowns.
+""This shows that the trade gap is still widening, this is the bad news,"" said PERSON, economist at ORG.
+""But when you look at the actual composition of the deficit... a large part of this is stemming from the investment needs of NORP industry.""
+Imports DATE grew PERCENT over DATE DATE, while exports, hampered especially by lower demand in GPE, were up PERCENT, the ORG said.
+""Exports are lagging behind our expected growth rate,"" said ORG economist PERSON. ""But the services balance will help improve the account.""
+Machinery and transport equipment accounted for CARDINAL crowns of the total DATE deficit, while the balance for consumer goods actually showed an CARDINAL crown surplus, despite a sharp increase in domestic demand.
+Comments by ORG Governor PERSON on DATE ruling out a devaluation of the crown to boost exports convinced analysts that the central bank was not overly concerned with the overall NORP balance of payments picture.
+""There really isn't a strong convincing reason why (the crown) should be devalued at this point of development,"" PERSON said, adding that the country's capital account surplus still should comfortably cover the current account deficit.
+The services balance will be especially helped by the expected expansion of income from tourism, as strong ORDINAL half revenues raised forecasts for total income from tourism in DATE to MONEY after MONEY in DATE.
+""The overall balance of invisibles (services including toursim) for DATE should be MONEY, which will decrease the current account deficit,"" PERSON said.
+Economists are forecasting the DATE current account deficit at CARDINAL of gross domestic product, compared with PERCENT DATE.
+The overall number of tourist visits in the country was up PERCENT in DATE year-on-year, and airport arrivals were up PERCENT.
+ORG balance of payment figures for DATE -- which will give clearer picture of the balance of services -- are expected to be released in DATE.
+The tourism component of DATE balance of payments showed a net income of MONEY, on total tourism revenue of MONEY.
+The overall current account however, posted a MONEY deficit in DATE.
+-- Prague PRODUCT, CARDINAL-2-2423-0003",1
+"GPE's leaders have agreed on a need to stimulate the economy but the central bank is trying to keep the policy low-key, a senior NORP economist said on DATE.
+""There is a broad consensus on a need to stimulate the economy,"" said PERSON, an economist and director of ORG, an authoritative think-tank.
+""But the central bank wants to keep this low-key,"" he told reporters in a broad-ranging discussion of GPE's economic policy.
+GPE has largely relaxed its DATE programme of economic austerity aimed at wringing inflation out of the economy.
+Retail price inflation had reached a worrisome PERCENT in DATE but was brought down to PERCENT DATE.
+In DATE it fell to PERCENT, well within the government target of PERCENT for DATE.
+At the same time, economic growth has managed to reach PERCENT, though ORG said that a build-up of inventories -- some of that unsaleable -- probably accounted for CARDINAL percentage points of economic growth.
+The central bank, ORG, has cut interest rates twice DATE, partly as a response to the marked gains in bringing inflation under control.
+ORG was also trying to lend a helping hand to ailing state industry, which has been saddled with heavy interest payments on its huge debts.
+Central bank officials have said that the interest rate cuts did not mean a loosening of monetary policy, and that they would keep policy ""appropriately tight"".
+""Central bank officials want to keep the word 'tight' in the policy,"" said Fan, adding that they did not want to see a renewed surge of government spending that would once again pump up inflation.
+He said, however, that there still were controls on fixed investment that could be eased somewhat.
+""The central government needs to accelerate growth without overheating,"" he said. ""We need the highest growth possible.""
+The economist said there was still plenty of idle capacity in the state sector with many of the employees of state industry on leave from their jobs on partial pay because of a lack of orders.
+Much of that was concentrated in the nation's ""rust bowl"" in the northeast, a bastion of heavy industry that has relied on central planning and been unable to upgrade its antiquated equipment and shed its huge payrolls of excess workers.
+""From the point of view of reform, higher growth makes (reform of state industry) easier,"" he said
+Much of GPE's creaking state industry needed to cut surplus labour to become more efficient, ORG said, although he conceded that this was still a politically sensitive issue.
+""Social stability is still a big factor,"" he said.","GPE needs MONEY in foreign investment for its power expansion projects through DATE and its investment climate is strong enough to attract this amount, NORP power officials said on DATE.
+They also denied that there was a firm cap on investment returns in the power industry though they conceded that the best rate on key projects was slightly below PERCENT.
+""We will need MONEY in investment in power during the ORDINAL DATE plan (DATE),"" said PERSON, vice minister of ORG.
+""PERCENT of the total will be from foreign investment,"" he told reporters at an energy conference sponsored by GPE and ORG, adding that the rest would be shared equally by the central and local governments.
+""We think we can reach this goal,"" he said.
+Some foreign businessmen have complained that GPE was setting a ceiling of PERCENT returns on investment and that this was too low.
+Asked whether there was a PERCENT ceiling on investment returns for foreigners, PERSON replied: ""We have never said there was a PERCENT cap on investment.""
+Foreign businessmen have said that GPE and GPE offered better returns in the power sector.
+""You must look at the level of risk,"" said another NORP official. ""GPE is more reliable.""
+Other NORP power officials said that the investment return was set on a case by case basis, taking into account financing costs, risk controls and budgetary considerations.
+""We don't cap investment returns,"" said PERSON, director general of ORG department of international cooperation.
+He told reporters that the highest return on a central government-approved project -- PERCENT -- was for a power station in GPE in south GPE.
+A GPE consortium including ORG and Cheung Kong (Holdings) Ltd, has a PERCENT stake in the plant.
+Foreign investors can obtain higher returns than this on smaller projects that do not have to be reviewed by central government authorities.
+Projects for MONEY can be approved by local governments and often offer more attractive terms, officials said.",1
+"The largest NORP commercial bank, PERSON a.s., said on DATE that profits in DATE fell PERCENT due to accounting changes. The shares rose on the news.
+The bank's net profit, calculated under international accounting standards, declined to CARDINAL crowns from MONEY, but GPE shares moved higher on ORG as analysts praised the results.
+The bank's finance division director PERSON told a news conference that since DATE, GPE had revised its accounting method to exclude unpaid late fees and commissions.
+""Our profit, according to international accounting standards, is PERCENT lower than in the same period of the last year. But there are very important methodological influences,"" PERSON told reporters.
+Only those fees that have actually been paid are included in the figures now whereas outstanding receivables were included previously, he said.
+He added that the amount of late fees that would have been included under the previous accounting method was CARDINAL crowns. PERSON posted a MONEY net profit for the whole of DATE.
+The bank's total assets rose to MONEY crowns at DATE from MONEY, year-on-year.
+The net interest margin declined to PERCENT from PERCENT, but up from PERCENT at DATE.
+Under NORP accounting standards, which PERSON said do not include the tital of CARDINAL crowns of unrealised gains from securities, GPE's gross profit for the period was CARDINAL, down from MONEY on year.
+He told rpeorters that he considered the results to be ""very good"", but warned that simple annualisation of DATE figures would not lead to DATE profit forecast.
+He said DATE results could be affected by unclear development on the stock market and other factors.
+Sandy PERSON, vice president of equity research at the GPE office of ORG, welcomed the figures,
+""The results are quite in line with our expectations, I think the performance is very strong, and it puts PERSON in a very good position to meet or exceed out DATE forecast.""
+He added that the forecast was a MONEY crown net profit, according to international standards.
+Komercni share price jumped CARDINAL crowns on ORG soon after the news to CARDINAL, and closed at CARDINAL after a week of heavy losses in which some analysts anticipated poor results.
+Dealer PERSON of ORG said the results were in line with his expectations and partly attributed GPE's share price rise to demand from foreign investors.
+""Some of the foreign investors...think they are not so bad therefore we can see some demand in the stock,"" he said.
+Added PERSON: ""We definitely remain buyers of the stock, and the recent weakeness in the shareprice we interpret as a major buyer opportunity.""
+Komercni's largest shareholder is still the NORP government which has a PERCENT stake, followed by ORG which has accumlated a PERCENT stake.
+-- Prague PRODUCT, CARDINAL-2-2423-0003","Moves toward just-in-time roasting and savage cuts in coffee inventories in consumer countries will force exporters, traders and processors to resort to sophisticated financial mechanisms to offset price volatility, the head of ORG said.
+ICO chief PERSON predicted booming growth in risk management measures such as options, futures and secondary instruments and said they would become key in influencing short and medium term coffee prices.  
+They will also replace more traditional methods of building up stocks, and other physical strategies, as a buffer to sudden swings in the market, he said.
+Meanwhile, in some producer countries, growers may find themselves bearing an increasing responsibility for storing the crop, thereby seeing their costs pushed up.
+""Risk management, similar to an insurance contract, will become an increasingly important instrument for exporters, traders and processors,"" Lodder said in a speech organized by GPE's ORG.  
+""Growers and growers' ORG will have to take on greater responsibilities for storing inventories. This will push up costs, reduce their cash flow and mean much of the stocks will be stored in remote areas, delaying dispatch,"" the coffee chief said.
+Despite the grim message that shifting trends in consumer countries could force their costs up higher, PERSON did offer a ray of hope for NORP growers, already hard hit by the strengthening peso and the high cost of credit.  
+Lodder highlighted the growing opportunity for niche marketing of specialist coffees in traditional markets where consumer palates are becoming more sophisticated even though the overall demand in those areas may have stagnated.
+He also talked up prospects of new markets opening in the former GPE and GPE. GPE's President PERSON, and his official delegation, returned from LOC at DATE. His itinerary included GPE and both he and his Foreign Minister PERSON were upbeat about the chance of selling the NORP bean to the country's CARDINAL-strong population.  
+During the visit to GPE and GPE, PERSON calculated that if GPE could sell CARDINAL cup of coffee a day to every inhabitant of GPE, the NORP nation would absorb GPE's entire DATE harvest.
+ORG chief PERSON did his own calculations and worked out that GPE would have to double its coffee harvest if it was looking to meet PERSON's target.
+In his speech, PERSON recognized the ORG's changing role and agreed it was no realistic for it to adopt interventionist strategies in a globalized free market.  
+""The patterns of economic and political cooperation seen in DATE have been replaced by a new  model, perhaps more realistic and certainly different. There's no consensus for a return to intervention but the ORG is a dynamic organization and it must reflect the current situation and not be constrained by its former role,"" he said.
+""I believe the ICO must remain flexible and look for the broadest possible consensus and build on the foundations of our cooperation with trade experts.""
+He added that the ORG would concentrate on looking for specific solutions to specific problems as they arose throughout the coffee sector either in production or marketing.
+Meanwhile, GPE's transport system got back to normal DATE after a crippling DATE strike by truckers, which ended with an agreement DATE.
+There has, nevertheless, been a significant delay in coffee deliveries and GPE forecast that CARDINAL QUANTITY sacks of coffee promised for DATE delivery would not in fact reach buyers until DATE.
+-- GPE newsroom CARDINAL 610 7944.",0
+"A prolonged dry spell In GPE has stretched into the small rainy season, but its impact on mid-crop cocoa pod setting and main crop growth may not be clearer until DATE, crop and weather analysts said on DATE.
+""The weather is very, very strange. We have a mixture of harmattan (hot, dry) conditions in some places but light rains nearby,"" said CARDINAL crop analyst. ""Pod setting and progression could be affected. It just depends on rains before DATE as the front passes,"" he added.
+Weather analysts said the front that usually heads southwards in DATE, giving PERSON coast a light rainy season between DATE and DATE, had finally moved south over DATE. But rains were still far below average.
+""It is now over PERSON (ORDINAL northern parallel) but rains are well over DATE. So far we have not had a small rainy season,"" said CARDINAL weather analyst.
+Weather data showed PERCENT of average DATE rains fell in GPE. Data for DATE were not available to build a clear picture of the overall rainfall pattern in DATE, said analysts.
+""Flowering and soil moisture vary greatly between regions but cherelle (early pod) setting should be clearer later in DATE,"" said a crop analyst who recently toured NORP farms.
+Up-country buyers around PERSON told ORG intermittent rains had started in the centre-west cocoa region but more rain was needed for late main and early mid-crop development.
+GPE opened its CARDINAL cocoa marketing season late on DATE after rain deluges in DATE and DATE. Bean moisture was no longer a problem, they said.
+""Now there is a nice mixture of rain and sun but we need more rain up to DATE to avoid small mid-crop bean sizes,"" said CARDINAL buyer. NORP sizes of CARDINAL per CARDINAL grammes are not considered to be of export quality.
+Crop analysts said soil moisture levels were low in some areas and could affect pod sizes if sunny weather continued. CARDINAL crop analyst told ORG he had only seen rain on CARDINAL out of his DATE of treking around the whole cocoa belt.
+Official weather data showed average or above rains in GPE, but rain deficits elsewhere, particularly south of GPE, around PERSON, Abidjan and Adiake.
+Sunny conditions had prevailed in the south as monsoon air was at higher altitudes south of GPE than usual, said the weather analyst.
+""The sun is burning off low clouds,"" he said.
+Elsewhere, CARDINAL crop analyst said the danger in GPE of blackpod, a fungus hitting cocoa pods in prolonged cool and damp spells, had gone after regional attacks in DATE. Rains there had been heavier than in GPE.
+--Abidjan ORG +225 CARDINAL","GPE must boost quality controls, improve farmer training and market different grades of cocoa separately, to retain its quality image, ORG (ORG) head PERSON said on DATE.
+""GPE produces extremely good cocoa but somewhere along the line PERCENT is bringing down the quality of the rest,"" PERSON Managing Director PERSON told ORG in an interview.
+""Quality is the name of the game but it is easily lost.""
+GPE, LOC's cocoa processing hub, imports cocoa mainly from GPE and increasingly in bulk form.
+ORG was speaking as ORG cocoa sector reform talks continued. Cocoa quality and teething problems with a new export contract auction system have topped the agenda.
+""There is a total lack of quality control,"" ORG said, outlining CARDINAL corrective measures he put before ORG, industry, donor and NORP government committee delegates.
+He cited an urgent need for quality checks at all stages of the marketing chain and an increased role for farmers' cooperatives in training and quality checks.
+""The ORDINAL quality issue is what I call government interference,"" said ORG. ""The government has in the past said the mid-crop (DATE) would be kept off the market. In practice that means it is kept in upcountry stores.""
+Poor storage meant a risk of middlemen mixing deteriorated cocoa and smaller beans usually seen in midcrops with the larger main crop (LOC) beans preferred by industry for its higher fat content.
+""CARDINAL of chocolate is cocoa butter so it is very important for the shelf life of products,"" ORG said, adding that long storage and poor quality bean pushed free fatty acid levels above the NORP legal food standard of PERCENT.
+""There is no specific trade condition on free fatty acids so we as an industry are thinking about what to do with existing cocoa bean contracts (to change that),"" he said.
+""That does not necessarily mean a free fatty acid clause but we need better checks on quality than we have DATE,"" he added.
+""Good cocoa should be separated from bad cocoa and sold separately. There is a market for everything.""
+Ivory Coast has in the past announced it would withold mid-crop cocoa and process it at home to add value to its cocoa exports.
+""Usually it is mixed in with main crop cocoa,"" said ORG. He said poor quality at the end of the 1995/96 season had partly been due to a flow of cocoa from farmers in the southwest who were using a new hybrid tree but who lack the expertise of farmers in the less productive but long-standing eastern plantations.
+ORG said buyers of bulk cocoa, increasingly favoured by some processors over cocoa in jute bags, had put in place their own origin port quality checks. Most of these buyers were NORP.
+ORG president PERSON, technical advisor to NORP Prime Minister PERSON, told ORG more checks from village level downwards were needed.
+""The only administrative control is at the port of loading,"" he said. ""We are now preoccupied with quality and there have been discussions with who should be responsible for contracts, the industry or the state.""
+Other delegates feared that cocoa in GPE full-to-capacity warehouses could deteriorate if not shipped by DATE.
+Stocks have risen as exporters who bid too high for export contracts wait for better prices.
+""I do not see the auction as the cause of quality problem but the rules have been discussed,"" said ORG.
+PERSON PRODUCT marketing board has pulled back from a monopoly internal and external marketing role and closed upcountry buying centres and quality checkpoints.
+Export contracts are now allocated by auction as part of a donor-sponsored market liberalisation policy.
+--Abidjan newsroom +225 CARDINAL",1
+"Western oil companies frustrated by GPE's foot-dragging on foreign investment laws presented a study DATE designed to convince officials that GPE will take the lion's share of rewards in oil deals.
+The study, outlining the benefits from CARDINAL flagship production-sharing contracts requiring MONEY in expenditure, could be the evidence nationalist and conservative parliamentarians need to pass energy and tax laws in DATE to get the projects off the ground.
+Foreign oil firms have to date invested only a tiny fraction of that total, citing high taxes, a flawed production-sharing law and GPE's inability to ratify a list of reserves open to output-sharing deals.
+""No investments are going to happen until there's a firm legal base,"" said a top Western oil executive who declined to be identified, speaking after a conference where the study was presented.
+The document, prepared by ORG, or ORG, and a group of NORP academics, said CARDINAL major international projects requiring MONEY in NORP funding over DATE would generate MONEY in total benefits, with GPE getting PERCENT of the total.
+The deals would create CARDINAL jobs, raise real gross domestic product by MONEY, boost state revenues by MONEY and NORP private sector revenues by MONEY.
+The foreign side would reap MONEY in benefits, including MONEY in foreign investor profits.
+""With the overwhelming majority of benefits accruing to GPE, these projects will make an important contribution towards GPE's future economic growth and to the stability of its emerging market economy,"" a study group statement said.
+NORP officials have blocked passage of key energy laws, saying they want to prevent what they call a fire-sale of GPE's natural resources to the LOC and in effect hampering Western investment in GPE's oil sector.
+""Under the current licensing regime regulating the use of subsoil resources and the current gross revenue-based tax system, large-scale investments in the NORP oil industry are not forthcoming,"" the statement said.
+Deputy Fuel and Energy Minister PERSON said the study showed the necessity of Western investment in the oil industry, but he said NORP companies would have to have at least a PERCENT stake in production-sharing deals.
+""We don't need stop-gap loans -- we need long-term investments,"" he told the same conference.
+""Domestic investments are not appearing,"" he said, adding that only Western-financed production-sharing contracts would reverse GPE's steep oil output decline. ""There are NORP banks that bought oil companies, but where are their investments?""
+The study said that for each dollar directly invested in the oil sector, MONEY in revenues would be generated in related domestic industries.","GPE's untapped gold reserves are unlikely to become the El Dorado of the LOC soon despite GPE's promises to liberalise the tightly-controlled sector, precious metals sources said on DATE.
+GPE's ORG said DATE it was gearing up to create a domestic gold market via measures that would make it worthwhile for NORP commercial banks to finance mining.
+But industry sources said the rules would do little to reform the world's ORDINAL-largest gold producer with the world's ORDINAL-largest reserves.
+""It will take quite a while for commercial banks to take much of that market,"" said analyst PERSON of ORG in GPE.
+ORG new rules would allow banks to trade gold domestically in a limited way through special precious metal accounts and to make and secure limited, gold-backed loans.
+""Well, if after DATE, the central bank has come up with accounting procedures for gold transactions, then that is very good,"" said PERSON, acting chairman of ORG), whose functions are being reorganised.
+""But this has nothing to do with creating an actual market, and that is what we need.""
+GPE's gold mines, even those run by foreign joint ventures, are required to sell their output to the state at fixed prices and are usually paid DATE.
+The government, in a budget crisis and facing a tax revenue shortfall, has even less money DATE to finance output and DATE production will not better DATE's poor CARDINAL-132 tonnes.
+Commercial banks financed QUANTITY of output DATE. GPE has promised but done little to let banks with special licences take gold abroad to secure financing.
+Analysts said GPE feared losing control of its gold industry, which would be harder to track than other key sectors.
+""The history of the (NORP) industry is partly driven by politics, not economics,"" said analyst PERSON of ORG in GPE.
+Others said a tug-of-war for control was scaring investors.
+ORG, which shares responsibility for gold reserves with ORG, wants more control over more gold reserves to support the rouble in the future.
+But ORG quoted Deputy Finance Minister PERSON as saying the ministry, not ORG, should have first crack at buying output and the state, not the private sector, should finance most mining.
+Total, unspecified volume of NORP gold mined over DATE was PERCENT below DATE levels, ORG said. Mining DATE ends in DATE as freezing weather emerges in LOC and GPE's LOC.
+And GPE will literally have to dig deep to tap its reserves. DATE of NORP gold is in below-ground ore deposits.
+CARDINAL of all foreign-backed gold projects in the former GPE are in GPE.
+But none of the big ones, including the giant ORG, the world's largest unmined reserve with a possible QUANTITY, are at the production stage because of tax and royalty quibbles with the government.
+-- GPE PRODUCT, +7095 CARDINAL 8520",1
+"ORG DATE announced sweeping organisational changes and a major shake-up of its senior management, replacing the head of its global automotive operations.
+The moves include combining ORG's CARDINAL components divisions into a single organisation with CARDINAL employees and MONEY in revenues, and a consolidation of the automaker's vehicle product development centres to CARDINAL from CARDINAL.
+As part of the management changes, ORG named group Vice President PERSON, DATE, a personable, fast-rising cost-cutter, to replace PERSON, DATE, as president of its global automotive operations.
+Hagenlocker, who headed ORG's core car and truck business for DATE, was named a vice chairman, overseeing the new components unit, land development, technical affairs and rental car operations.
+Hagenlocker, a reserved engineer who came up through ORG's truck operations, has in the past come under fire for the auto unit's lackluster financial performance. For DATE, the worldwide auto unit's profits were MONEY, down from MONEY DATE.
+Hagenlocker has also been criticised for the slower-than-expected start of the redesigned PRODUCT and the decision not to offer a ORDINAL door on ORG's minivans.
+The moves, which had been rumoured for DATE, intensify the race to succeed PERSON, who currently holds the titles of chairman, chief executive and president. In DATE, NORP reaches the mandatory retirement age of DATE, but the board could ask him to stay on longer.
+Trotman, briefing reporters on the changes at ORG, declined to comment on the succession issue.
+ORG said it would reorganize its global product development operations for the ORDINAL time in DATE. The changes, which call for ORG to reduce its vehicle line directors to CARDINAL from DATE, come DATE after the automaker embarked on its ambitious ""Ford 2000"" global reorganization plan, which combined the GPE and NORP development groups into a single unit.
+Trotman said formation of the new ORG will help the company streamline its component operations into a single enterprise that will be more competitive with other auto suppliers.
+ORG said ORG wants the unit to increase its sales from ORG customers. Currently, the vast majority of the unit's revenues come from internal ORG customers, with ORG automakers contributing PERCENT.
+No significant headcount changes are expected. But ORG said an evaluation under way could result in new acquisitions as well as divestitures of existing product lines.
+""We are separating the automotive components business from ORG to focus senior management attention on making it more competitive in its own right,"" he said. ""I have asked PERSON to take on the crucial assignment of making this happen.""
+Analysts applauded the move, with CARDINAL saying changes to ORG 2000 are overdue because the initiative needs a sharper focus.
+""What Ford 2000 taught us is that they had too many cooks working on the broth,"" said PERSON, a retired professor of management at ORG and long-time Big Three automaker watcher.
+He also approved of giving ORG responsibility for the parts business. ""It puts a top officer directly in charge of the major challenge for DATE -- and that's components,"" PERSON said.
+Also named a vice chairman was Executive Vice President PERSON, DATE, who remains in charge of the automaker's international operations. Chief Financial Officer and ORG Vice President PERSON, DATE, also was promoted to executive vice president.
+ORG said it promoted Vice President PERSON, DATE, to take PERSON's old job of group vice president responsible for product development. PERSON was previously vice president for the vehicle centre that developed light trucks primarily for personal use.
+In the future, ORG will have CARDINAL vehicle centres for car and truck development: PERSON, to be headed by Vice President PERSON; Small and Medium Car, to be headed by Vice President PERSON; and Large and PERSON, to be headed by Vice President PERSON.
+The small and medium-car development centre will continue to be based in GPE, GPE and GPE, GPE, while both the truck and large/luxury car centres will be based in GPE, GPE Previously, ORG had a development centre in PERSON and ORG for small front-drive cars and in GPE for large front-drive cars, for rear-drive cars, for light trucks and for commercial trucks.
+""We have beeen able to simplify and streamline the organisational structure now that we are reducing our vehicle platforms by PERCENT,"" PERSON said. ""Using the CARDINAL vehicle plaforms and at the same time increasing the number of derivatives, we can provide a broader array of vehicles for customers in many more markets,"" he said.","In DATE, DATE Madlenka PERSON sat glued to a radio in GPE, listening with her exiled NORP diplomat father to news of the GPE army's liberation of the western part of her native land.
+They cheered when General PERSON army forced NORP soldiers out of the famous brewery town of ORG.
+They cursed when the general was forced to hold back his troops and let ORG take GPE according to the deal struck with the NORP at GPE many months before.
+""I remember the broadcasts as the NORP were pushed back across GPE, and I remember my parents cheering and wishing they had gone further,"" she told CARDINAL NORP and NORP veterans in GPE DATE.
+Weaned in GPE bomb shelters and reared on EVENT, the diplomat's daughter, now known as PERSON, is in line to be the first woman to serve as GPE Secretary of ORG.
+On DATE, the ruddy-faced girl, who returned to GPE after NORP occupation only to leave her homeland again after a NORP coup, was chosen by President PERSON to be the highest-ranking woman ever in the GPE government.
+ORG confirmation of her appointment is still required.
+By the accounts of friends and diplomats who know her, PERSON's life has consistently shown the influences of her father and her post-war childhood.
+""Her relations to this country is deep,"" NORP ambassador to GPE PERSON told ORG. ""Her's is still the NORP of a native. This country has a big friend in her.""
+Her father, PERSON, a close aide to NORP Foreign Minister PERSON during EVENT government-in-exile in GPE, served as EVENT ambassador to GPE and later a delegate to the new ORG.
+During that period, family photos show his young daughter PERSON -- Madlenka in the NORP dimunitive -- dressed in frilly traditional NORP costume to greet visiting dignitaries.
+After the EVENT government was deposed by communists in DATE, ORG sent a cable from GPE saying he was leaving with his family on vacation. The last entry from his ORG file showed ORG being ""sent for holidays"".
+Korbel received asylum with his family of CARDINAL in GPE, and settled in GPE. Madlenka started a new life at DATE.
+The father became a professor of NORP history and politics and eventually a dean at ORG, and earned worldwide respect as an expert on DATE LOC. He died in DATE, aged DATE.
+PERSON became fully ""Americanised"" attending a GPE high school and then ORG in ORG, but she kept GPE close to her heart -- in her academic studies and later in her career as a diplomat.
+After earning a doctorate in political studies at ORG, PERSON -- who married newspaper heir PERSON and later divorced -- made the NORP takeover of her homeland a frequent focus of her lectures and papers.
+As a tough-nosed diplomat she repeatedly has spoken of the effects of LOC's appeasement of ORG in DATE's PERSON agreement which led to GPE's occupation of GPE in DATE, causing her family to flee to GPE.
+After GPE's DATE fall of communism, the leader of the bloodless ""Velvet Revloution"", the playwright-turned-president PERSON asked her to advise his new democratic government.
+On her ORDINAL official visit to GPE as GPE ambassador to the ORG in DATE, she walked into the palacial ORG and memories came flooding back.
+""I came here in DATE when I was DATE. This is an emotional and sentimental moment for me,"" PERSON said while gazing at the palace ceiling.
+She has acted as PERSON and PERSON tour guide in her home town -- once joining ORG to hear the NORP president play saxaphone in a smoky jazz concert in a GPE club during a DATE state visit.
+GPE sees her as a strong advocate of NORP membership in ORG and the alliance's expansion to former NORP satellites.
+Havel, recently speaking on the prosepcts of PERSON becoming Secretary of ORG said what ""matters, is the fact that she is a lady with a good knowledge of the NORP situation, NORP situation.""
+""She is, thanks to her origins, more sensitive to the issues which concern us,"" ORG said.
+PERSON has called for the ORDINAL wave of ORG expansion by DATE, and diplomats widely believe that the NORP are at the top of the list along with GPE and GPE.
+""I think that the problems of this area are well understood in the heart of the NORP government,"" PERSON said during of CARDINAL her visits to GPE as ORG ambassador.",0
+"There is a discreet battle raging in GPE over whether future competitors of a privatised ORG will be able to make a living or whether the playing field will be tilted against them.
+With MONEY at stake, analysts are scutinising the abstruse technical details of interconnection charges and the cost of public service.
+The government expects to dispose of PERCENT of ORG DATE and plans eventually to selloff PERCENT of the state-owned-company.
+NORP telecommunications minister PERSON said on DATE that NORP interconnection charges would have to be ""comparable to other countries, in particular countries where there is already competition.""
+Interconnection charges are the payments telecom rivals have to pay to ORG for the use of its network.
+ORG confirmed a leaked document showing it planned a charge of MONEY per minute for local calls, MONEY for regional calls and MONEY for national calls.
+France Telecom says these are among the lowest in LOC, with only GPE having cheaper local interconnection charges.
+But its future rivals, however, say these prices are still too high and claim they are higher than what the state-owned company uses as internal charges.
+On top of the interconnection charges comes the cost for the ""public service"" -- telecoms available to everyone, everywhere in GPE. By law, ORG will run this public service and its rivals will have to share the costs.
+The newspaper ORG recently cited a study by the ORG research bureau showing the the costs of such a service would be MONEY (MONEY) per year.
+ORG rivals, using another research bureau, arrive at a figure of MONEY at most.
+""The total interconnection charges and public service payments for a local call would be MONEY per minute, or PERCENT of the current price and CARDINAL times as high as in other countries where there is competition,"" a confidential document said.
+The new NORP telecommunications regulator, ORG, which will be in place in DATE, is expected to decide on the charges in DATE.
+And during DATE the future telecommunications operators will apply for their licences in order to be ready for competition in DATE.
+CARDINAL groups have announced intentions to become national operators. CARDINAL is ORG, a joint venture of ORG, ORG, ORG, and GPE of GPE. The other is headed by ORG in association with GPE's STET and GPE's ORG.
+AT&T also wants to be active in the NORP market, with the help of a partner, but a spokesman for the GPE group in GPE declined to comment whether it was in talks with ORG or preparing a ORDINAL consortium.
+AT&T is in talks to combine it forces in LOC with ORG -- a joint venture of the NORP PTT, ORG, ORG and GPE's PERSON.
+ORG had previously teamed up with ORG but the latter preferred ORG.
+Other companies will operate on a smaller scale, targetting either a region or a specific market. ORG's ORG has received a licence for GPE to GPE lines. ORG said he would sign in DATE telecom operating licences for railroad company ORG, GPE of GPE and ORG
+($MONEY NORP Franc)","The GPE government was in a flap on DATE after a bombshell admission that GPE could not protect GPE holders of NORP passports after GPE takes over the colony DATE.
+Governor PERSON called an urgent meeting of ORG for later on DATE to make a statement on the controversy, which arose after a NORP envoy said GPE could provide no consular protection for the passport holders.
+Patten's spokesman said the issue had sparked ""considerable public interest and a good deal of misunderstanding"" as well as demands by legislators to meet him.
+Patten would answer their questions at the extraordinary sitting of GPE on DATE TIME.
+The uproar is the latest jolt in GPE often bumpy transition back to NORP rule DATE from now, when DATE of colonial rule will end and the territory will become an autonomous region of GPE.
+GPE's Senior Trade Commissioner, PERSON, said on DATE that GPE could not protect the CARDINAL GPE people granted full NORP passports with right of abode in GPE under a special selection scheme in DATE.
+In a concession to widespread demands for full NORP citizenship after GPE's DATE FAC crackdown, GPE offered passports to CARDINAL GPE households, a privileged fraction of GPE CARDINAL people.
+PERSON said GPE regarded these people as holders of dual citizenship and would not recognise NORP consular protection for them on NORP soil, on the mainland or in GPE.
+PERSON's remarks were denounced by local politicians as a sell-out. In the corridors of the GPE government even the most senior officials were privately criticising GPE for what they saw as a concession to GPE, CARDINAL source said.
+On DATE, GPE and the GPE government rushed to assure affected passport holders that anyone claiming sole NORP nationality would receive consular protection until it was proven they held dual citizenship.
+But a NORP statement made clear GPE could not give full consular protection for people holding dual NORP nationality once GPE becomes part of GPE again.
+NORP officials said the passports issued to these people were indistinguishable from any other full NORP passport, but many in GPE are concerned that GPE may have learned that GPE had obtained the names of the passport hodlers.
+""The only way to know for sure if one of these passports was issued under the special scheme would be if you had the names,"" a senior government source said.
+The transition to NORP rule has been dogged by disputes since the DATE GPE crackdown. GPE reacted furiously to the special passport scheme, and again when Patten introduced reforms expanding democracy in DATE.
+GPE was infuriated DATE when GPE unveiled a liberal anti-subversion bill that would set legal markers against GPE-style jailings of dissidents in GPE.
+NORP and NORP senior negotiators are in the midst of a DATE bargaining session on handover details and have signalled they expect to announce accords on several issues on DATE, although the agenda has so far remained confidential.
+GPE is supposed to be autonomous and keep its capitalist system intact for DATE, but a human rights group said on DATE GPE's crackdown on dissent bode badly for the territory and its autonomy prospects were slim.
+""The rule of law and human rights picture is bleak,"" said Human Rights Monitor director PERSON on the launch of an DATE human rights report.",0
+"U.S.-owned express freight carrier ORG (UPS) could start flying its own planes to GPE if growth in the NORP market continued at the current rate, a senior company official said on DATE.
+UPS, which started serving GPE in DATE, currently uses commercial airlines to carry packages in and out of the country, UPS general manager GPE PERSON said in an interview.
+""If things continue the way they are I could see very quickly the realisation of that ..."", ORG said.
+""It is certainly not beyond the terms of possibility at all. I would say that we have a plan that it would happen in DATE,"" he said.
+UPS does not use its own planes, which currently total CARDINAL worldwide, to fly to GPE as there was not enough export business from GPE, he said.
+""We don't fly planes into GPE. The market is not yet large enough to warrant bringing in an airplane every day full up and then turn them around and fly them back,"" Hales said.
+""We have no problems filling them up coming in. Going out is another matter on a regular basis,"" he said.
+Hales said GPE imports CARDINAL times as much air freight as it exports. However, he said UPS projects large export growth, albeit from a low base in GPE.
+""Our volume of revenue forecasts are in the region of PERCENT (growth) in calendar DATE,"" he said.
+The import business is seen growing at a more modest pace.
+""We still feel fairly bullish that we will still grow in the (import) market, probably PERCENT which is reasonable for the business,"" he said.
+UPS uses GPE as a service centre rather than a hub for LOC. Hales said ORG was spending MONEY on its LOC hub terminal in GPE, which was chosen due to its proximity to other NORP nations and GPE.
+""When you sit down and work out the best location to service the customers, in our case we came out with GPE as the best location for LOC,"" ORG said.
+However, he did not rule out GPE becoming an Asian Pacific hub in the future.
+UPS currently uses GPE as a connection point for freight bound for GPE.
+ORG is transferred to ORG flight to carry it the rest of the way to GPE.
+But this could change in the future if growth continued at the current pace, ORG said.
+GPE-based ORG is privately owned.
+-- ORG CARDINAL-2 9373-1800","NORP utilities giant ORG posted on DATE higher first half profits and unveiled plans to reorganise its loss-making construction business, hammered by a depressed NORP market.
+Chairman PERSON told a news conference the company made ORDINAL half net profit of MONEY, after payment to minorities, up from CARDINAL DATE.
+He also forecast net profit for DATE would be MONEY, compared with a net loss of MONEY DATE. The results would be ""strongly marked by exceptional items, notably capital gains from asset sales,"" he added.
+For DATE, GPE expected profits to be ""much higher"" than those of DATE and should be ""without doubt higher than the best profits the company has had in its history."" The company made MONEY net profit in DATE.
+GPE also announced ORG had made a formal bid on DATE with its NORP partner ORG to run the telecommunications operations of NORP state railways ORG. The CARDINAL companies want to bring ORG to join the bid.
+GPE, who came from an investment bank, was brought in DATE to clear out the group's balance sheet which had put on MONEY of debt and been savaged by a crisis in the property market and construction business.
+His ORDINAL step DATE was to reorganise the property arm, which he said on DATE had cost the group a total MONEY since DATE.
+The group expects to lose MONEY DATE due to poor property assets but that includes MONEY of exceptional charges which should wipe out any uncertainty for DATE, he said.
+""At DATE, ORG will not face any questions, even in pessimistic scenarios for DATE, on any exceptional charges which may arise from its property activities,"" he said.
+The group's George V property development arm aims to be profitable from DATE, he said.
+The group's average level of property provisioning was around PERCENT, of which assets in the south of GPE were provisioned at PERCENT at Cannes.
+This time round, GPE attacked the group's building and public works businesses which have suffered from the downturn in GPE and GPE. He has made its ORG subsidiary the centre of its construction activity.
+The ORG and PERSON electrical installations units and roadbuilders WORK_OF_ART, Viafrance and SGE-VBU will be brought into SGE. And there will be a consolidation of building activity with SGE buying PERCENT of ORG (CBC), currently wholly owned by ORG.
+The new ORG, which will be ""radically different and attractive,"" will have DATE sales of MONEY and will return to a ""significant level"" of profit in DATE, ORG said.
+ORG also expects to cut its debt by CARDINAL in DATE. It said it expected its net financial debt to stand at MONEY at DATE, down from CARDINAL in DATE.
+ORG said the company's operating profit would be close to the MONEY profit recorded in DATE.
+Turnover in DATE should be up PERCENT to MONEY, he added.
+GPE is deregulating the telecommunications regime in DATE, breaking the domestic monopoly of state-owned ORG to comply with ORG rules.",0
+"The international partners in GPE's largest gas project said on DATE they plan to spend MONEY to double production, making it GPE's largest single resources investment.
+NORP oil and gas producer Woodside ORG said the partners in LOC gas project offshore LOC plan to double production capacity to QUANTITY of liquefied natural gas (ORG) DATE.  
+The decision by LOC partners was unlikely to boost the much-touted prospect of a co-operative development with the nearby ORG gas field, which has the capacity to produce QUANTITY of ORG a year, analysts said.
+""The North West shelf partners have their own plans for expansion, but if the ORG partners have a good proposal that we can work together then we will certainly have a look at it,"" said ORG's corporate affairs manager PERSON.
+""But to date we have not seen a plan from them that fits within our plans,"" PERSON told ORG.  
+DATE an executive of ORG, a partner in both projects, raised hopes that the CARDINAL projects could be developed together and questioned the expansion of the Shelf on a stand-alone basis.
+PERSON, chairman of ORG committee of managing directors, then told ORG in an interview that expansion of LOC could not be justified without integrating it with another project and that the development of both projects was a viable option.
+ORG also owns PERCENT of Woodside.  
+Woodside, the project operator, said the expansion plan was submitted to the project's CARDINAL NORP power and gas utility customers at a meeting in GPE DATE.
+""It is a significant step for the expansion of LOC project,"" PERSON said. The partners have spent MONEY on the project since it started in DATE.
+Woodside is an equal CARDINAL shareholder in the project along with some of the world's major oil producers.
+The GPE meeting followed indications from buyers in DATE of their interest in an expansion of the project, said Woodside.  
+However, work on the expansion would not start for DATE at least, PERSON said.
+""The next thing that is likely to be a letter of intent in DATE for the development of this expansion proposal,"" PERSON said. He said between now and then there are lots of talks on technical issues surrounding the proposal.
+""Following that would be a purchase agreement between the LOC shelf partners and the NORP buyers, which would be around late 1998,"" PERSON said.  
+Only after this agreement would work start on the expansion. Besides Woodside and ORG, the other equal partners in the NORP are The Broken Hill Pty Co Ltd, ORG, PERSON and a partnership of ORGamp; ORG and ORG
+ORG and ORG are also partners in ORG along with GPE oil giants ORG and ORG
+-- Sydney newsrooom CARDINAL-2 9373-1800","Building materials group ORG reported on DATE net profit in line with expectations, but comments on DATE by the group is likely to see full year earnings forecasts trimmed.
+PERSON, CARDINAL owned by GPE ORG, reported a PERCENT fall in net profit before abnormals to MONEY for DATE, in line with analysts' forecasts.
+But managing director PERSON said he expected the ORDINAL half result to be significantly down on DATE.  
+Analysts at the company's results briefing said ORG's comments on the ORDINAL half meant that estimates for pre-abnormal net profit for DATE would be trimmed back to MONEY from MONEY.
+They welcomed the company's statement that outlook for its GPE businesses were very positive for the 1996/97 second half and into CARDINAL.
+""In contrast, the outlook for NORP operations remains bleak in the short term,"" it said.  
+""In view of the immediate prospects, the company maintains its previously stated position that profit for DATE will reflect a marked deterioration on DATE results,"" the company said.
+""Growth prospects for DATE remain very positive,"" PERSON said.
+PERSON said the ORDINAL CARDINAL downturn reflected a fall in earnings from NORP building products due to lower housing starts.  
+""Reduced activity in the housing sector had an adverse impact on both volumes and margins for the NORP building boards, windows and bathroom products businesses,"" he said.
+Continued strong performances from the fibre cement and gypsum businesses in GPE as well as solid performances from GPE had however helped the result.
+""GPE fibre cement production sold out during DATE and we continue to ship significant volumes of product from NORP and GPE plants to satisfy demand,"" ORG said.  
+ORG had just increased GPE fibre cement production capacity by PERCENT to QUANTITY through the commissioning of a ORDINAL line at GPE in GPE.
+However analysts said the market would not be worrying too much about CARDINAL results, which are widely expected to be down on the MONEY pre-abnormal net profit reported in DATE.
+ORG said he expected a rebound in profit in DATE, following an expected fall in profit in DATE.  
+""I expect it to be higher, but it is too early to say if it will be significantly higher,"" PERSON later told reporters.
+Analysts forecast PERSON to have pre-abnormal net profit earnings of MONEY in CARDINAL.
+ORG also revealed that the GPE-based group was conducting a study of the NORP fibre cement market, but had made no decison to enter any NORP countries yet.
+""We are going to have a look, it is a large market,"" ORG said. ""It is DATE, we are just having a look to see if we can understand the market.""  
+Sales for DATE rose PERCENT to MONEY, while the dividend remained unchanged at MONEY per share.
+At TIME (0210 ORG), PERSON shares were MONEY lower at A$MONEY in a weaker NORP sharemarket that has been hit by a slump in the local bond market.
+-- ORG newsroom CARDINAL-2 9373-1800",1
+"GPE in GPE -- unheard of for DATE -- are expected to more than double in number DATE as authorities try to shed hopelessly indebted firms.
+The figure is expected to rise even further DATE as officials become more determined not to subsidise loss-making state firms.
+CARDINAL NORP companies were expected to go under in DATE, up from CARDINAL in DATE or DATE put together, PERSON, architect of GPE's bankruptcy law, said.
+""Whether enterprises are psychologically prepared for it or not, the rate of bankruptcies gradually increasing is unavoidable,"" ORG said in a recent interview.
+In DATE, CARDINAL enterprises declared bankruptcy, soaring by PERCENT compared with the DATE period, said ORG, who now runs a consultancy to help enterprises seeking to merge or go bankrupt.
+A total of CARDINAL firms declared bankruptcy in DATE, up from CARDINAL in DATE, CARDINAL in DATE, CARDINAL in DATE and CARDINAL in DATE.
+GPE passed a breakthrough bankruptcy law in DATE in the ORDINAL flush of an ambitious campaign to force lumbering state-owned enterprises to sink or swim in the marketplace.
+However, official fears of mass unemployment and social unrest if loss-making firms are allowed to go under has hampered implementation of the bitter medicine.
+But GPE was expected to accelerate bankruptcies and mergers of state firms DATE to reduce the burden on state coffers and slash subsidies to state enterprises.
+There is little need for alarm for the ever-increasing number of bankruptcies because it is only a fraction of the total number of enterprises, said ORG.
+""One can't say it's too big,"" ORG said of the number of insolvent enterprises. ""Currently, the bankruptcy rate is PERCENT (of the total number of firms)... PERCENT is normal.""
+PERCENT of GPE's estimated CARDINAL state enterprises were hopelessly in debt and completely unattractive to investors looking for cheap companies to purchase or to merge with, ORG said.
+In GPE in the northern province of GPE, PERCENT of medium- and large-size state enterprises are losing money, the official ORG said.
+GPE's state sector reported a historic net loss of MONEY (MONEY) in DATE, the ORDINAL such deficit since the country embraced paramount leader PERSON's economic reforms in DATE.
+The government allocated MONEY DATE to write off bad debts of state firms which go under, but this is hardly enough, ORG said.
+In Wuhu city in the central province of GPE, MONEY is needed to write off the bad debts of CARDINAL state firms, but MONEY has been allocated, the newspaper said.
+""Mergers and bankruptcies... are roads without detour,"" ORG, mouthpiece of the ruling ORG, said.
+""(Enterprises) which should die should be allowed to die,"" the newspaper said. ""Mergers and bankruptcies are a reform in which we have more to gain than lose.""
+But bankruptcies and mergers must guard against social unrest, debt evasion and theft of state assets, it said.
+($MONEY = MONEY)","GPE Mayor PERSON is to step down in a long-delayed reshuffle after the downfall of his mentor, the NORP capital's disgraced ORG boss PERSON, sources with close ties to the city government said on DATE.
+Li, DATE, mayor of GPE since DATE, would become a vice-minister of labour and could eventually replace PERSON, DATE, as labour minister, said the sources who asked not to be identified. The CARDINAL PERSON are not related.
+PERSON departure was widely expected after one of his vice-mayors came under investigation for economic crimes and committed suicide in DATE.
+The suicide shocked the nation and led to the downfall of PERSON's mentor, PERSON, who has since disappeared from the public eye.
+PERSON resigned as GPE's ORG boss and was later sacked from the ORG, becoming the most senior official to be ensnared in a corruption scandal since the communists came to power in DATE.
+Officials say PERSON was himself still under investigation for possible wrongdoing.
+The city government had been virtually paralysed since PERSON's disgrace, the sources said.
+""After PERSON stepped down, the (city) government lost its credibility ... and could maintain only the most basic operation,"" CARDINAL source told ORG. ""It could not embark on huge projects ... It could not do anything.""
+PERSON would be replaced by PERSON, DATE, party secretary of the southeastern province of GPE, the sources said.
+PERSON arrived in GPE DATE to take up his new post as acting mayor, the sources said. PERSON is expected to formally become the capital's mayor after his nomination is approved by ORG.
+In the run-up to the party's ORDINAL congress DATE, PERSON could be promoted to GPE's ORG secretary and land a seat in the party's powerful ORG, they said.
+The vice-mayor who committed suicide was found to have used his position to amass CARDINAL houses illegally and build himself a villa on the outskirts of the city. He also masterminded a MONEY embezzlement and graft scam, officials have said.
+Corruption was virtually eliminated in DATE after the communists came to power in DATE, but has staged a comeback along with economic reforms in DATE.
+ORG chief and state president PERSON has declared war on corruption, warning that the scourge was a virus which threatened the party. Courts frequently impose the death penalty in major corruption cases.
+DATE, prosecutors filed charges of corruption against CARDINAL people, including PERSON, former head of CARDINAL publicly listed GPE affiliates of a GPE steel giant, and CARDINAL former officials of the GPE city government.
+The announcement of the charges against PERSON was among the ORDINAL against CARDINAL of GPE's so-called ""princelings"", the popular sobriquet applied to the children of the ruling party elite, who enjoy wide influence.
+PERSON, detained in DATE, is the son of PERSON, former chairman and ORG secretary of GPE's giant ORG, also known as PERSON, and among the largest conglomerates in GPE.",1
+"A labour shortage is threatening to delay completion of GPE new airport, a senior airport official has told ORG.
+The official, PERSON, director of corporate development for ORG, the body set up to oversee completion and run the HK$49.8 billion airport at PERSON, said CARDINAL construction workers are needed if the opening target of DATE is to be met.
+Trade unions in GPE are expected to resist attempts to import more workers from overseas. ORG has said contractors should give priority to local tradesmen.
+""I am not sounding an alarm just stating the facts. If we don't get these CARDINAL extra workers then certain things are at risk but we hope it won't come to that,"" PERSON said in an interview from his GPE headquarters.
+CARDINAL specific skills shortage is of electrical and mechanical workers, not just at the airport but throughout the territory's increasingly sophisticated construction industry. The government is aware of the problem through twice DATE regular meetings to discuss progress. Despite the shortage, all construction work is on target at the moment, PERSON said.
+This latest warning of a potential delay comes DATE after a senior official from ORG said CARDINAL imported workers were needed to ensure the vital airport rail link was completed on time.
+In a statement, ORG said CARDINAL or 18 per cent of the new airport and related infrastructure's total labour force is imported.
+ORG is set at CARDINAL giving ""ample"" room for more imported workers providing local workers are given priority and their rights and benefits safeguarded, the statement said.
+The Government also said the scheme has recently been made more flexible.and contractors facing a genuine shortage are encouraged to use it.
+-- PRODUCT Tel+44 171 542 7706 Fax+44 171 542 5017","ORG is ready to start its ORDINAL NORP service to GPE on DATE, PERSON, manager of the airline's advertising division told ORG.
+Speaking at GPE's ORDINAL air show held at the showpiece GPE airport QUANTITY across the LOC delta from GPE, PERSON also said ORG plans to start flying to GPE in DATE next year. But plans to start a ORDINAL international destination to GPE in GPE have not yet been finalised, he said.
+The twice DATE non-stop service to GPE and the GPE link will both use ORG PRODUCT aircraft, CARDINAL of which have arrived and CARDINAL more will be flown into the carrier's home airport of GPE within DATE, ORG said.
+Speaking through an interpreter, PERSON said the new NORP destination will be the airline's ORDINAL international route which opens up new opportunities.
+""We hope it will be a success and is in response to customer demand. We expect good passenger and cargo numbers to be carried,"" he said.
+The GPE service is the result of an ORG between the NORP and NORP governments which industry observers say took DATE to hammer out. The agreement also allowed NORP flag carrier ORG to fly to GPE and NORP cargo airline PERSON to fly a PRODUCT freighter service into GPE. A ORG spokesman told ORG DATE that the service was due to begin DATE but could not give a definite start date.
+Freight forwarders say both ORG and PRODUCT connection will mean cargo which up to now had to be flown from GPE to LOC will now eliminate cross border expense and save time. - Air Cargo Newsroom Tel+44 171 542-7706 Fax+44 171 542-5017",1
+"ORG surprised almost everybody DATE by picking PERSON, chairman of printing company PERSON and Sons, as its new president and heir apparent to Chairman PERSON.
+The giant communications company, ending weeks of speculation, said that PERSON, DATE, was unanimously elected DATE TIME to the posts of president and chief operating offficer and as a member of the board, effective DATE.
+""I'm confident PERSON brings leadership qualities that will make the new ORG successful, not only in the hotly contested long-distance market, but across the whole range of ... communications services,"" Allen, DATE, said in a statement.
+In a telephone interview, PERSON said, ""I'm very confident with my ability to move this enterprise forward."" PERSON declined to outline areas where he believed ORG had failed, but underlined an appropriate cost base as his clear focus.
+""We have to have a cost platform which allows us to compete effectively or we are disadvantaged even before we come into the ring,"" he said.
+Industry analysts were stunned that ORG had not chosen a better-known executive. They were also concerned that an DATE handover would not lead to a quick enough change in strategy.
+""My ORDINAL reaction was 'John who?'"" said PERSON, an industry analyst with ORG.
+AT&T stock closed $MONEY lower at $MONEY on ORG, where it was among the most active issues.
+Adjusted for the spin-off of ORG, ORG shares have fallen PERCENT DATE -- about the same as the broad market has risen.
+""This (PERSON) is not a candidate to lead the rally,"" said analyst PERSON of SBC Warburg.
+""I was expecting DATE (handover) at most,"" said PERSON, an analyst at consultancy ORG, and a former ORG executive. ""I think most insiders were, too.""
+The president and ORG posts were left vacant after PERSON resigned suddenly in DATE to head a small, new wireless company, ORG.
+ORG said its board considered a number of candidates but quickly focused on PERSON because his track record at GPE-based ORG, the world's largest commercial printer, fit well with the challenges at NORP
+""He's transformed a large, old-line company challenged by new technologies and changing markets into a tough global competitor. Meeting those challenges is what leading the new ORG is all about,"" PERSON said.
+Allen said that starting in DATE he and PERSON would split the duties of chairman and chief executive, with PERSON becoming chairman DATE.
+""The board and I have every expectation that John will become chairman and CEO of ORG,"" PERSON said.
+AT&T Senior Vice President PERSON said PERSON and PERSON would work closely during the transition.
+""They will work together very tightly on all the issues confronting the business, but PERSON will obviously be chairman and CEO during that process,"" he said.
+AT&T officials declined to detail PERSON's salary, but told a news conference that the main part of the pay would be performance related, and that the package, while competitive, was by no means a record breaker.
+PERSON's last proxy filing showed PERSON's compensation for DATE as $MONEY plus a bonus of $MONEY and other annual compensation of $MONEY.
+PERSON, who joined ORG in DATE as a trainee, held numerous positions in the publishing and information company, becoming chairman in DATE.
+""During DATE of his operational leadership, PERSON steadily increased revenue, earnings and cash flow in an industry experiencing little growth,"" ORG said in its announcement. ""It also transformed itself.""
+DATE Donnelley is a global leader in managing and distributing information -- from magazines to software disks and online services.
+Expectations of an early end to PERSON's career were heightened when the company warned in DATE that its earnings would be weaker than expected. The warning eroded staff morale that already had been hurt in DATE when the company lopped off CARDINAL jobs.
+ORG's operating profits of MONEY, or MONEY a share, for DATE were off PERCENT from MONEY, or MONEY a share, DATE. The drop in operating profits came as increased competition and higher marketing expenses hit the company's core long-distance phone business, while financial services sank into losses.
+Analyst say top candidates, like PERSON of Eastman Kodak, may have been put off by the lengthy transition time to the top job while PERSON remains in charge.
+""I heard the reason Fisher taker didn't take the job was the DATE delay before taking the reins,"" said consultant PERSON of ORG.
+However, a source close to ORG, speaking on condition of anonymity, said no tentative or firm offers were made to any candidates who subsequently withdrew. AT&T declined comment.
+AT&T started with a list of CARDINAL names from executive search firms, and narrowed those to CARDINAL early in DATE, when candidates were ORDINAL approached.
+A lengthy board meeting on DATE in GPE whittled down the number from CARDINAL to CARDINAL. Extensive discussions took place with PERSON in DATE before his appointment was confirmed.
+""The (stock) market doesn't know him yet, but this a person who will be regarded very positively as people come to know him,"" ORG said.","Channel tunnel operator PERSON on DATE announced details of a deal giving bank creditors PERCENT of the company in return for wiping out MONEY (MONEY) of its massive debts.
+The long-awaited but highly complex restructuring of MONEY of debt and unpaid interest throws the company a lifeline which could secure what is still likely to be a difficult future.
+The deal, announced simultaneously in GPE and GPE, brings the company back from the brink of bankruptcy but leaves current shareholders, who have already seen their investment dwindle, owning PERCENT of the company.
+""We have fixed and capped the interest payments and arranged only to pay what is available in cash,"" Eurotunnel co-chairman PERSON told reporters at a news conference. ""Avoiding having to do this again is the name of the game.""
+PERSON said the plan provides the NORP-French company with the medium term financial stability to consolidate its commercial position and develop its operations, adding that the firm was now making a profit before interest.
+Although shareholders will see their holdings diluted, they were offered the prospect of a brighter future and urged to be patient after DATE of uncertainty while ORG wrestled to reduce the crippling interest payments negotiated during the tunnel's construction.
+Eurotunnel, which has taken CARDINAL of the market in the busiest cross-Channel route from the NORP ferry companies, said a strong operating performance could allow it to pay its ORDINAL dividend within DATE.
+NORP co-chairman PERSON told reporters at a GPE news conference that the dividend could come DATE if the company performed ""very well"".
+Eurotunnel and the banks have come up with an ingenious formula to help the company get over DATE of the deal when, despite the swaps of debt for equity and bonds, it will still not be able to afford the DATE interest bill of MONEY.
+If its revenue, after costs and depreciation, is MONEY, then the company will issue ""Stabilisation notes"" to a maximum of MONEY to the banks. ORG would not pay interest on these notes (which would constitute a debt issue) for DATE.
+Analysts said that under the deal, ORG's ability to finance its debt would become sustainable, at least for DATE.
+""If you look at the current cash flow of CARDINAL a year, what they can't find (to meet the bill) they will roll forward into the stabilisation notes, and they can keep that going for CARDINAL, DATE,"" said an analyst at CARDINAL major investment bank.
+""So they are here for that time,"" he added.
+The company said in a statement there was still considerable work to be done to finalise and agree the details of the plan before it can be submitted to shareholders and the bank group for approval, probably early in the Spring of 1997.
+Eurotunnel said the debt-for-equity swap would be at MONEY, or MONEY, per share -- considerably below the level of MONEY widely reported in the run up to the deal
+The company said a further MONEY of debt would be converted into new financial instruments and existing shareholders would be able to participate in this issue.
+If they choose not to take up free warrants entitling them to subscribe to this, ORG said shareholders' interests may be reduced further to PERCENT of the company by DATE.
+PERSON's shares, which were suspended DATE at MONEY ahead of DATE's announcement, will resume trading on DATE.
+Shareholders and all CARDINAL creditor banks have to agree the deal. ""I'm hopeful but I'm not taking it (approval) for granted,"" PERSON admitted, ""Shareholders are pretty angry in GPE.""
+Asked what would happen if the banks reject the deal, PERSON said, ""Nobody wants a collapse, nobody wants a doomsday scenario.""
+($MONEY Pound)",0
+"ORG has ordered MONEY worth of airplanes from ORG and LOC's ORG, with the the lion's share going to ORG, the airline announced DATE.
+United ordered CARDINAL wide-body jets -- CARDINAL jumbo PRODUCT, CARDINAL PRODUCT and CARDINAL 777s -- valued at MONEY from ORG and CARDINAL narrow-body ORG A319s valued at MONEY.
+The GPE-based ORG unit is the ORDINAL GPE airline to order ORG' latest model, ORG and ORG said.
+United chose the ORG planes over competing ORG PRODUCT and PRODUCT after evaluating both, a ORG spokesman said.
+""United benefited from substantial discounts to the prices from both manufacturers,"" the airline said, noting that the order values it quoted were based on manufacturers' list prices.
+ORG said the planes will be part of its ""retire and replace"" programme to update its fleet.
+""By DATE, the programme is expected to generate MONEY in DATE operating cost savings, reducing fuel, maintenance and labour costs,"" the airline said.
+The programme will also ensure that ORG meets certain noise reduction requirements.
+Delivery of all aircraft is scheduled to be completed by DATE, ORG said.
+The carrier said it placed orders with ORG ORGamp; ORG unit for engines for the ORG aircraft and with ORG for engines for the ORG jets. ORG owns PERCENT of ORG.
+ORG will replace ORG's older ORG PRODUCT, the airline and ORG said. The new planes are configured to seat CARDINAL passengers.
+The PRODUCT is a smaller derivative of the ORG PRODUCT. ORG already operates CARDINAL A320s and will take delivery of CARDINAL more by DATE, they said.
+ORG joins NORP airline ORG as the largest airline customers for the PRODUCT family, each with CARDINAL planes.
+ORG is a consortium made up of NORP-owned ORG, ORG, ORG, a unit of GPE's ORG, and ORG of GPE.","GPE on DATE tried to play down friction with GPE over a rising trade gap and called on the GPE to end curbs on technology exports to put trade back in balance.
+""The CARDINAL sides should avoid taking actions that do not help the expansion of trade,"" said a spokesman of ORG.
+""These are CARDINAL of the biggest markets in the world,"" he said. ""They should be complementary.""
+GPE said on DATE its trade deficit with GPE climbed to MONEY in DATE, from MONEY in DATE.
+The trade gap, already the ORDINAL largest for the GPE after its deficit with GPE, was seen reaching MONEY by DATE, up from MONEY in DATE.
+NORP economists said the mounting deficit was likely to create new frictions between the CARDINAL countries.
+GPE ORG Secretary PERSON said the growth in the deficit with GPE had slowed, but he called on GPE to live up to its international trade obligations.
+A group of influential GPE senators, in a letter to President PERSON, questioned GPE's trade practices and said GPE should not be allowed to join ORG on special terms because it would harm NORP economic interests.
+GPE has been seeking to join the global trade body on favourable terms given to developing nations, but GPE has insisted that GPE's economy was too big for this treatment.
+ORG spokesman said GPE's policy curbs on GPE exports were part of the bilateral trade problem. ""There are policy rulings that are holding back GPE exports,"" he said. ""Where there are limits on technology exports, this is a lost export opportunity for GPE.""
+The GPE appeared to be moving to address this matter.
+On DATE, GPE Secretary of ORG PERSON said GPE was considering allowing technical cooperation in peaceful uses of nuclear technology despite concerns about safeguards over re-exports.
+PERSON, after meeting with NORP leaders in GPE, said the GPE was looking at taking steps that eventually could allow NORP companies to sell their technology to GPE.
+A NORP economist suggested some of the criticism over trade was unfairly directed at GPE as GPE imports were mainly labour intensive products that were not manufactured in GPE.
+""If the GPE does not buy these products from GPE it will buy them elsewhere,"" said PERSON, an economist with ORG. ""These are goods produced by developing countries.""
+But the economist conceded that bilateral trade problems could spill over into broader trade issues.
+""The GPE already is the main obstacle to GPE's plan to join ORG,"" he said, adding that renewed NORP trade friction could further complicate the issue.",0
+"ORG, ORG and ORG said DATE they jointly developed a software standard to make it easier to bank online.
+The companies said their ORG -- a set of technical specifications -- will make it easier for depositors' personal computers to communicate with bank computers. That makes it easier to pay bills, transfer money between accounts and get balances via the Internet.
+CARDINAL banks are expected to announce by fall that they will adopt the standard, said ORG Vice President PERSON. By then, each of the CARDINAL companies also will unveil new lines of online banking products based on the standard.
+Intuit and GPE, Wash.-based ORG, fierce competitors since a merger agreement between them fell apart DATE, said that by working together they will accelerate the adoption of online banking.
+""In all of the meetings each of us have had, every one of the financial institutions asked us to bring this together,"" said PERSON, head of ORG's desktop finance unit.
+The alliance gets rid of the ""mishmash"" of standards ORG, ORG and ORG were trying to push on banks, said PERSON, online banking analyst at market researcher ORG.
+GPE, Calif.-based ORG and ORG are the CARDINAL largest vendors of personal financial software and checkbook programmes. Checkfree lets customers send checks and pay bills through their personal computers.
+The companies said they will work with credit card issuer ORG to link ORG to ORG's bill payment network.
+Other companies supporting ORG including banking software firm ORGStock in ORG, which also launched its Office 97 business software package DATE, rose MONEYMONEY in TIME trading on the ORG market. ORG climbed MONEY to $MONEY, while ORG was unchanged at $MONEY, also on Nasdaq.","The NORP government said on DATE it would reveal early in EVENT how it plans to sell the ORG state defence electronics firm and that the sale would be covered by a DATE privatisation law.
+The decision, announced by the finance ministry, makes the sale process slower than if it had been carried out under another DATE privatisation decree.
+The independent ORG DATE forced the state to rethink its plan to sell the ORG electronics group in a private deal to the ORG conglomerate, when it objected to a key element in the disposal.
+Following that setback, the state decided to privatise ORG in CARDINAL parts, with a sale of ORG ORDINAL, followed by ORG, the loss-making consumer electronics unit, to speed up the process.
+But the complex sale details mean any decision will only be made in DATE, government officials said.
+ORG, GPE's highest administrative court, ruled that the ORG sale is covered under the DATE act, after the government asked it to rule on the legal framework.
+The court said that as ORG constitutes an essential part of the assets of ORG, the sale should be seen as a means of privatising the parent company, the finance ministry said in a statement.
+""The privatisation of ORG is covered, just as that of ORG, by chapter II of the law of DATE on privatisations,"" it said.
+A number of possibilities have emerged for ORG since ORG derailed the sale process.
+ORG chairman PERSON and its executive committee have lobbied the Prime Minister PERSON for a stock market flotation instead of selling it to an industrial company such as Lagardere.
+A flotation would preserve ORG independence and would be faster than a ""trade sale"", a source close to the firm said. The company has all the financial details to hand and PERCENT of its capital is already traded on the stock market.
+PERSON would allow a faster restructuring of the defence industry, which was the aim of the privatisation move. It could still form alliances with other groups, such as the planned merger between aircraft companies ORG and Aerospatiale.
+ORG wants a ""clean"" flotation, without the traditional cross-shareholding pact which protects companies from hostile takeovers. A flotation would also ensure clarity in the sale terms, a senior source close to ORG said.
+But Lagardere chairman PERSON argues a flotation could lead to a break up of ORG as members of any shareholders pact would want to buy up parts of the business.",0
+"ORG Chairman PERSON was upbeat about ORG's prospects for DATE and beyond during a private meeting with Wall Street analysts, several of those who attended said on DATE.
+In particular, PERSON told analysts he was comfortable with current Wall Street estimates for DATE. The First Call consensus is $MONEY per share for DATE.
+ORG analyst PERSON said the ORG executive had said on DATE he ""expected earnings to be up PERCENT DATE, in line with expectations.""  
+Analysts said the meeting with analysts helped propel ORG stock on to the ORG most actives list on DATE. The stock was up CARDINAL in TIME trading after gaining CARDINAL points TIME.
+A ORG spokesman declined to comment on ORG's remarks to analysts. He said the company had gone on record in its DATE earnings report, released DATE, as being on track for DATE"" in DATE in terms of earnings.
+After the meeting, ORG said analyst PERSON reiterated his strong buy on ORG and boosted his DATE earnings estimate by a nickel to $MONEY per share.  
+""They are looking for good progress DATE,"" PERSON said of DATE's meeting, CARDINAL of the company's regular briefings with Wall Street analysts.
+While litle new was disclosed at the meeting, ""there seems to be a high level of conviction that progress is in place,"" the analyst said.
+ORG's leader specifically cited the company's aircraft engine and power businesses as being well-positioned for growth in DATE, along with its ORG broadcast unit, PERSON said.
+PERSON retained his buy rating after the meeting and left his current estimates intact. He said he expected ORG to report earnings of $MONEY for DATE and $MONEY per share for DATE, which is MONEY above the First Call consensus.
+""Most of the Wall Street analysts came away comfortable that the earnings estimates will be realized DATE and DATE,"" CARDINAL fund manager said. ""It's his usual magic with Wall Street,"" a reference to ORG's popularity.
+-- Wall Street bureau, CARDINAL-859-1736","GPE's top securities watchdog on DATE issued new requirements for exchanges and securities houses to strengthen risk control with the aim of cooling its over-heated domestic A share markets.
+But the markets in GPE and GPE responded with fresh rises in active trading with the A share indices hitting new DATE highs, and analysts said the warnings would have little impact on the current active trading.
+ORG (CSRC), in a circular, ordered the CARDINAL stock exchanges to investigate the risk control mechanisms of their members, ORG reported.
+All securities houses must now display in their business halls warnings about the risks of trading on the stock markets, the circular said.
+""The exchanges must quickly organise several groups to investigate the risk control systems of their members and report the results to the CSRC,"" it said.
+It also ordered designated newspapers and magazines to report more on the risks of stock investment.
+""Any comments on stock markets must avoid encouraging speculation in order to prevent investors being misguided,"" it added.
+The new instructions follow dramatic surges on the domestic A share markets in GPE and GPE DATE.
+GPE announced a new positive policy towards the stock markets in DATE, and since then GPE's A share market has risen PERCENT and its GPE counterpart PERCENT.
+By DATE, GPE had CARDINAL retail investors in stocks, double the number at DATE, according to media reports.
+""The central government is concerned about surges on the markets which might be out of control,"" said PERSON, an A share trader with ORG. ""It hopes the markets will rise more steadily.""
+The surges apparently have been beyond the expectations of the securities authorities and, to cool the over-heated markets, the ORG has over DATE issued a series of new rules and punished many brokerages for irregularities.
+But, despite the fresh warnings, GPE's A share index hit a new DATE high of CARDINAL points in TIME session on DATE and its GPE counterpart a high of CARDINAL.
+""Investors believe the authorities do not want to depress the markets, but are just worried over prices rising too fast,"" said a trader with a major NORP brokerage. ""Because of this belief, the new warnings will have only a slight impact.""
+The CSRC in the circular also ordered local securities authorities to ensure the securities institutions have displayed the information by DATE.",0
+"ORG is likely to continue its thirst for takeovers in DATE with banks, media and resources tipped to feature prominently.
+Brokers estimate there were MONEY (MONEY) worth of takeovers and share buy-backs in DATE, up from MONEY in DATE and MONEY in DATE. Takeovers and share buy-backs are both seen as ways to boost growth in earnings per share.
+The biggest deal DATE was the MONEY agreed takeover of freight transporter ORG by NORP postal and telecoms group ORG.
+""Almost across the board there is rationalisation and international interest in our industries,"" said PERSON, executive director at broker SBC GPE.
+SLOWING AUSTRALIAN ECONOMY SPURS RATIONALISATION
+Analysts said GPE's low inflation and low economic growth prospects also made conditions ripe for takeovers.
+""With low levels of inflation, companies have difficulty pushing through cost increases, so they have got to look for efficencies in order to increase profitability and to do that, some companies acquire others,"" said PERSON, ORG head of marketable securities.
+Profits have been falling across the board for DATE, with industrials hit by the slowing economy and resource companies severely affected by lower commodity prices.
+GOLD TO SHINE IN RESOURCE TAKEOVER ACTIVITY
+""Gold is an area where we could see a lot of takeover activity,"" said PERSON from leading broker ORGamp; Son. ""The gold valuations have fallen a long way DATE,"" he told ORG.
+The NORP gold index is currently PERCENT down from its DATE high in DATE, while the broader market has risen PERCENT over DATE.
+""The scope still exists for both domestic takeovers and in particular foreign takeovers of NORP gold assets,"" ORG said.
+The NORP gold sector was CARDINAL of the most active sectors during DATE. The largest takeover in this group was the MONEY merger among the ORG group of companies.
+Foreign gold miners were also keen to snare NORP gold producers in DATE, a trend which analysts say will continue DATE.
+DATE, NORP gold mining giant ORG unveiled a MONEY plan to buy the rest of its local offshoot ORG and GPE Highlands Gold Ltd.
+NORP gold analysts said other NORP gold miners keen on expanding their presence in the region are ORG and ORG
+However the rest of the resource sector is unlikely to see much takeover activity in DATE.
+""There is not a lot left in the oil sector and in the base metals sector there are few options so it's primarily the gold sector where there is going to be more activity,"" ORG said.
+NORP oil assets were vigorously snapped up in DATE by overseas predators. The biggest deal was ORG MONEY purchase of ORG
+NORP INQUIRIES MAY SPARK MORE TAKEOVERS
+The NORP government is holding inquiries into the media and banking industries, with analysts tipping banking as the more probable of the CARDINAL sectors to see merger activity.
+The Wallis inquiry into GPE's financial system, which is looking at the possibility of a relaxation of rules that stop big bank mergers and takeovers by foreign banks, is due to hand down its recommendations in DATE.
+There have already been several regional bank takeovers in DATE, but the outcome of the largest deal -- the MONEY friendly bid by ORG for fellow GPE-based ORG -- will be known DATE.
+ORG government, elected in DATE, has ordered a review of media ownership laws which currently limits cross ownership of newspapers and television.
+But the review is not examining foreign ownership rules, which could limit any expansion plans PERSON ORG has pencilled in for GPE. Upmarket newspaper publisher ORG remains the most likely target in this sector -- with PERSON already holding a sizeable stake.
+""In relation to media and banks, subject to the conclusion of the respective inquiries, there could well be more activity in those CARDINAL sectors,"" SBC GPE's PERSON said.
+But some analysts said any liberalisation of the banking sector could find opposition from the anti-monopolies watchdog -- the Australian Competition and ORG (ORG).
+($MONEY = CARDINAL)","Buildings materials group ORG is expected to report on DATE a net profit before abnormals of MONEY for DATE.
+PERSON reported a pre-abnormal net profit of MONEY in DATE. In DATE, it said the depressed local housing market would cause a deterioration in ORDINAL CARDINAL profits, while the DATE would also be lower.  
+ORG building materials analyst PERSON forecasts PERSON to report a net profit before abnormals of MONEY in DATE.
+Haynes, who has a hold recommendation for PERSON, said the building materials supplier was likely to pay a MONEY a share dividend, unchanged from DATE.
+A GPE-based building material analyst forecast PERSON to report a net profit before abnomals of MONEY for DATE and MONEY for DATE.  
+J.B. Were & Son's building materials analyst, PERSON, forecasts a ORDINAL half pre-abnormal net profit of slightly below MONEY.
+But he added: ""I would be disappointed if they came in below A$MONEY (CARDINAL) or A$MONEY (million),"" PERSON told ORG.
+North forecast an DATE profit of MONEY.
+BZW Australia forecast the GPE-based group to report a net profit before abnormals of MONEY for the CARDINAL and MONEY for DATE.  
+ORG building materials analyst PERSON estimated PERSON to report a pre-abnormal net profit of MONEY for the half.
+Analysts said PERSON results are likely to turn around in DATE, with an expected pick up in the NORP housing industry during the DATE calendar year. The group reported a pre-abnormal net profit of MONEY in CARDINAL.
+""The market will almost ignore these results, all the focus will be on the future and what they are doing in the GPE,"" said CARDINAL building materials analyst. ""People are not buying ORG for DATE earnings its a DATE story,"" the analyst said.  
+ABN AMRO's PERSON said the market would also welcome any comments on further business divestments, so that the company has a tighter focus on its core fibre-cement operations.
+""I think the market would react positively to any comment on the possible sales of the bathroom products and pipeline business and the windows business, all of which are estimated to be operating at a loss at the moment,"" PERSON told ORG.
+PERSON said on DATE it had completed the sale of its irrigation business and its fire protection and building automation operations. The sale of these businesses are unlikely to be shown in DATE accounts, analysts said.  
+Most building materials analysts have a hold recommendation on PERSON due to the strong rise in its share price over DATE, although they said the outlook for the group is positive, particularly with its expected grow in the GPE
+PERSON shares have risen PERCENT to a record of A$MONEY DATE from MONEY in DATE.
+The shares closed MONEY up at A$MONEY on DATE.
+PERSON is PERCENT owned by ORG NORP offshoot ORG
+-- ORG CARDINAL-2 9373-1813",1
+"NORP aircraft consortium ORG said on DATE it had no evidence that archrival ORG was putting pressure on GPE suppliers to prevent them from working on ORG' planned A3XX large plane.
+ORG (ORG) chairman, PERSON, said on DATE he was concerned ORG and merger partner ORG were signalling to a big GPE subcontractor, understood to be PERSON, not to work on the ORG project, newspapers reported.
+""We have no evidence of any kind of pressure,"" an ORG spokesman said.
+But an industry source close to ORG said ORG had put pressure on ORG to stay out of the LOC project, which threatens ORG's lucrative monopoly of the high-capacity segment with its PRODUCT jumbo. ""It is a fact,"" he said.
+Dasa is a partner in ORG, alongside GPE's ORG, ORG, and GPE of GPE.
+ORG was not immediately available for comment.
+ORG had been in exploratory talks with ORG over supplying engine housing sections for the A3XX but those negotiations had ended, the industry source said.
+ORG has been looking for risk-sharing partners to supply PERCENT of the targeted MONEY in the A3XX development costs. The plane would seat CARDINAL passengers in the basic version, which it wants to enter service in DATE.
+ORG managing director PERSON told journalists on DATE at the Toulouse headquarters that he would lay out ORG' competition concerns on the ORG merger when he gives evidence to ORG and ORG, as expected.
+In the long term, the ORG merger ""will pose a problem for LOC's civil aviation industry,"" he said, adding there would effects in military markets, particularly helicopters.
+The industry source said the merged ORG/ORG company would have bigger clout on suppliers, have a wider technology base though its portfolio of patents and gain larger access to indirect state funds for research and development through military programmes.
+But ORG said the merger was inevitable. ""The ORG-McDonnell merger will go ahead,"" he said.
+ORG is determined to fight back and is holding to its aim of securing a CARDINAL share of the world passenger plane market by the early part of DATE. A niche player strategy was doomed to failure, as ORG and PERSON found out, he said.
+The consortium needs to field products at the top and bottom end of the range, with respectively the LOC and a CARDINAL-seater plane to be built with GPE and GPE, as well as extend the A340 family of long-range jets to compete against ORG.","GPE's national audit office criticised on DATE a lack of clarity and insufficient competition in the water supply market, dominated by CARDINAL giant companies ORG.
+""There is a high degree of concentration. That is not to say competition is absent, but it is organised competition,"" said PERSON, author of ORG (court of auditors') report.
+""It may be that concentration in this sector is accentuated by agreements between these companies...sometimes by creating joint subsidiaries at the request of local councils.""
+Logerot cited as an example FAC city council, where the water company ORG is jointly owned by ORG and ORG (ORG).
+The report, presented at a news conference, said the private sector held PERCENT of the supply of drinking water in GPE in DATE, up from PERCENT in DATE and PERCENT in DATE.
+The price of water rose by a national average PERCENT from DATE, it said.
+Significant price rises occurred where contracts were awarded to the private sector, Logerot said.
+""Sometimes there was a catch-up effect but there were also excesses and abnormal situations.""
+But ORG noted in a statement that the report said the main reason for rising water prices was higher quality and increasing investment needs.
+It said the official audit pointed to a near doubling of the cost of water treatment DATE, while the price to the consumer rose by PERCENT.
+Logerot said local authorities often awarded contracts to the water companies in exchange for payments which the companies then recovered in the price charged to customers.
+The study followed a DATE law which banned ""right of entry"" payments that water companies paid to win an operating licence.
+The report cited the PRODUCT city of Grenoble, where a contract with ORG resulted in the conviction for bribery of the mayor, former NORP minister PERSON.
+Grenoble used the proceeds of the water contract to finance its general expenditure, while accounting principles call for water expenses to be kept separate from the general budget.
+Lyonnaise said in a statement that each water company had given details of its contracts to the audit office and, of the CARDINAL in GPE, CARDINAL had drawn explicit comment. And these had been agreed under conditions prevailing before the DATE law.
+The ORG statement said much of the criticism in the report related to the past, when payment for contracts was legal. It added that the company was pleased such payments had been banned and the duration of those contracts was limited.
+ORG said the water market was highly competitive DATE had shown that, when contracts expired, there was competition to win new licences. The sector was also subject to strict controls by a number of public bodies, including competition and quality experts.",1
+"ORG said DATE it agreed to acquire ORG in a stock swap worth MONEY, creating a giant international business communications company.
+The combined company, to be called ORG, will provide businesses with local and long-distance telephone, data communications and Internet services all on CARDINAL network -- something no competitor yet can on a significant scale.
+""We are creating the ORDINAL company since the breakup of AT&T to bundle together local and long-distance services ... controlled by a single company,"" said PERSON, chief executive of ORG.
+The deregulation of the telecommunications industry DATE promises to bring end-to-end service, but neither ORG nor any regional ORG can yet achieve it because of regulatory checklists and other issues.
+""We think this gives us at least a DATE headstart over our competitors,"" Ebbers said in an interview.
+For ORG, the ORDINAL largest GPE long-distance company, the deal will allow it to muscle into business markets that the regional ORG and biggest long-distance providers thought they had to themselves.
+For ORG it provides the long-distance connection between its metropolitan circuits that it long needed, and a very healthy premium over the prevailing share price.
+The merged company will have current sales of MONEY a year, with CARDINAL business customers throughout LOC, LOC and LOC.
+It will have an end-to-end fiber optic network with QUANTITY of fiber in service or under construction connecting all major metropolitan areas in GPE.
+The merger comes DATE after ORG's MONEY purchase of internet provider ORG was completed on DATE. DATE's merger is expected to close within DATE, the companies said.
+Under the agreement approved by both companies' boards, each share of ORG common stock will be exchanged for CARDINAL shares of ORG common stock. Owners of ORG stock will control PERCENT of the enlarged company.
+ORG's stock leaped $MONEY to close at $MONEY on ORG.
+But ORG stock fell $MONEY to $MONEY on ORG after the company said the merger would dilute earnings for DATE.
+Although the transaction was valued at $MONEY per ORG share based on DATE's closing price, the steep drop in ORG's stock brought the value down to $MONEY a share, traders said.
+""Over time, I think the deal will be viewed very positively, but it will take time,"" CARDINAL takeover trader said.
+GPE, DATE ORG has local networks in CARDINAL of major GPE cities, which could help it outflank regional ORG' lock on access to local business customers. This gave it a strong bargaining position in the merger talks.
+""WORK_OF_ART had the only one sizable company to merge with whose stock we really wanted (to own),"" PERSON, chief executive of ORG, told reporters.
+Despite the substantial stock premium for ORG, savings would soon cover the cost of the deal, ORG said.
+GPE, Miss.-based ORG said it expects significant cost savings from reduced line and access costs. For example, ORG no longer has to build a MONEY intercity network, because ORG already has one. ORG will not have to take a share in a MONEY LOC cable for its expanding international business because ORG is already a partner in CARDINAL.
+Ebbers said access charges that ORG pays to local telephone companies to reach their local customers would drop because ORG already has local lines to businesses in CARDINAL GPE cities, rising to CARDINAL cities in DATE.
+Worldcom said in a separate statement that it has adopted a shareholder rights plan to discourage a hostile takeover. It said its move was not affected by the deal with ORG.
+However ORG could nevertheless be a target for a regional ORG, tempted by the company's long-distance network, said mergers and acquisitions advisor PERSON at consultant ORG.
+""You have effectively put ORG into play with this (takeover) move,"" PERSON said.","ORG proposed successor to PERSON as chairman and chief executive will be a surprise, not one of those whose names have been mentioned in the press, sources close to the company said on DATE.
+Neither PERSON, President of ORG nor PERSON, chief executive of ORG are in contention, despite broad press speculation.
+The sources declined to identify the true candidate.
+AT&T declined comment, as did ORG and ORG, the executive search firms involved.
+ORG's board met TIME to examine a slate of candidates put forward by the executive search groups for the post of president and chief operating officer, and sources expect an announcement in DATE.
+AT&T reports its DATE results on DATE.
+""The search had (already) been narrowed to a critical few... and the board, not just PERSON, will make the final decision,"" said CARDINAL source, declining to be identified.
+The post is vacant after PERSON resigned in DATE to head a tiny new wireless company, ORG.
+CARDINAL possibility is that PERSON would split out the role of chief executive to the new candidate in DATE so but retain his chairmanship until nearer retirement.
+Allen, a DATE AT&T career veteran would be reluctant to depart early, but in a recent press interview said he would consider it if a perfect candidate came along.
+""ORG wants a world class marketer and technologist, with considerable experience of leading a major business,"" CARDINAL source said.
+It is unclear yet whether ORG will give a clear succession timetable in the announcement for the new post.
+Armstrong, PERSON, ORG chairman PERSON and PERSON, chairman of ORG, have ruled themselves out of the candidature, but this has not stopped the speculation.
+Expectation of an earlier end to PERSON's career has been fanned by ORG's profit warning in DATE in which it said earnings per share for DATE may be PERCENT below analysts expectations.
+The warning crowned DATE for the largest GPE telecommunications firm.
+AT&T incurred the wrath of politicians and the media for announcing CARDINAL job cuts in DATE, but an improved stock performance it was meant to produce has not appeared, so Wall Street and investors are not happy either.
+While the company's split into CARDINAL parts is going ahead as planned, the remainder of ORG is now more firmly wedded to long distance telecommunications services sector, in which competition is hotting up.
+While the Dow Jones Industrial Average is up PERCENT in DATE, ORG -- adjusted for its split -- is down PERCENT. -- GPE 212 859 1712 (c) ORG DATE",1
+"GPE said on DATE that GPE was a pawn and toy of hostile NORP forces out to weaken and divide the country and thwart its development.
+""GPE...acts as a pawn of international NORP forces, a toy in the hands of others,"" said a front-page commentary in ORG, the ruling ORG official newspaper.
+The commentary, issued to mark the ORDINAL anniversary of GPE's ousting of GPE from ORG, accused GPE of collaborating with forces hostile towards GPE to try to regain admission to the world body.
+""Some NORP forces have ceaselessly played the 'human rights card', 'GPE card' to limit GPE's development,"" the commentary said.
+""They see the GPE issue as one of their trump cards -- an important means of weakening and dividing GPE,"" it said without naming any countries but implying GPE.
+In DATE, ORG approved a non-binding resolution supporting GPE's efforts to rejoin ORG, enraging GPE.
+GPE, which regards GPE as a rebel province, maintains that the issue was settled once and for all in DATE when GPE was replaced by GPE at FAC.
+The commentary said countries that have helped GPE with its bid to regain admission to ORG were shortsighted like ""rats which can only see an inch in front of their eyes"".
+It urged GPE's allies, mainly NORP, NORP and NORP countries, to stop ""foolish activities in the interest of others"".
+For DATE, GPE and its supporters blocked moves in ORG in DATE to consider ORG membership for wealthy but diplomatically isolated GPE.
+GPE considers any move to give GPE ORG membership an encroachment on its sovereignty and an interference in its internal affairs.
+GPE and GPE have been diplomatic rivals since PERSON ORG defeated PERSON NORP and forced them to flee to GPE at the end of EVENT in DATE.
+GPE's communist rulers have sought to push the island into diplomatic isolation to force it into reunification. CARDINAL countries recognise GPE, while CARDINAL have diplomatic relations with GPE.
+Both communist GPE and capitalist GPE agree to reunify DATE, albeit on different terms. GPE has threatened to invade if the island declares independence.
+The commentary said GPE's offer to give MONEY to ORG on admission into the world body had become an ""international joke"".
+It jeered at the argument that GPE deserved a seat as it was now democratic and economically prosperous, saying the island was ""deceiving others and itself"".
+""No matter what political system GPE implemented or what level of economic development it attained...regaining admission to ORG would be purely a dream,"" it said.","GPE's ORDINAL largest bank ORG renewed its interest in LOC on DATE through an alliance with NORP-based ORG, DATE after its sold a swag of its NORP units.
+The move signals ORG is ready to expand in LOC again after largely withdrawing from the region to focus on GPE and GPE during the last NORP recession.
+Under the alliance PRODUCT and Standard Chartered would share banking services for medium-to-large scale corporate customers in their respective dominant markets of GPE and GPE and LOC.
+Westpac chief executive PERSON said in a statement that the initiative was of major importance to PRODUCT.
+""It is a good strategic fit for our future growth,"" he said. ORG group chief executive PERSON said his bank was committed to ""ensuring this new relationship with ORG is of significant long-term benefit to both companies"".
+The venture would focus primarily on GPE, GPE, GPE, GPE and GPE, before expanding into GPE and GPE in DATE, said PERSON, group executive of ORG.
+""Initially the main purpose of this relationship is to provide select NORP banking services to ORG's medium to large customers -- including cash management services, local NORP currency lending, local transaction facilities and trade finance facilities,"" the banks said in a joint statement.
+The banks expect quick success from the alliance.
+""We expect it to be a fairly rapidly growing revenue stream,"" PERSON told ORG.
+Westpac reported a MONEY (MONEY) profit in DATE from its NORP operations compared with MONEY in CARDINAL.
+But, PERSON said he could not say how much revenue the alliance would produce in DATE of business or how much PRODUCT had invested in the venture, which started on DATE.
+""We have made a substantial investment already, but it is going to be a continuing investment as we expand our capabilities across LOC,"" PERSON said.
+The move was a cheap way of getting into LOC by ORG, banking analysts said. ""It gives them access to markets in a fairly cost effective way,"" said PERSON, banking analyst at brokers PERSON. ""It's a good thing. It gives them exposure to an area that is very fast growing.""
+Westpac has banking licences is some NORP countries, but its activities are limited, ORG's PERSON said.
+Traders welcomed news of the alliance pushing ORG shares up MONEY to A$MONEY, while the overall market was lower.
+The link with ORG follows ORG NORP pact formed with the GPE ORG DATE.
+""WORK_OF_ART) are obviously looking around the region for alliances,"" CARDINAL GPE-based analyst said.
+ORG's alliance with ORG also comes ahead of an inquiry into GPE's finance and banking industry, which could see further deregulation and some mega-mergers.
+The inquiry's final report is due DATE.
+DATE, speculation mounted that ORG was looking at a merger with another NORP bank, the GPE and ORG (ORG), but this was denied by GPE-based ORG. (AUD=US$0.80)",0
+"An international task force working to resolve the simmering controversy over desirable addresses on the Internet released a draft plan DATE for a substantial expansion of the total number of destinations.
+EVENT on domain names, formed by ORG in DATE, recommended that CARDINAL new so-called top-level domains be added to the Internet.
+Top-level domains are the CARDINAL-letter designations most Internet sites end with, such as ""com"" in http://www.gm.com and other commercial sites, ""gov"" in government sites and ""edu"" for sites run by schools.
+The committee recommended that an unlimited number of firms be authorised to register the new addresses, although the panel said it hoped to initially approve CARDINAL new registration services.
+Addresses for most sites are currently handed out by ORG of GPE, GPE, which charges $MONEY for each registration.
+At first, ORG would continue to have a monopoly on the domain names it already controls but the committee said its ""ultimate goal"" is to have all names handled by all qualifed firms.
+""The ORG members were faced with a formidable challenge,"" said PERSON, president of the Internet Society and chairman of the committee. ""We accomplished our goal, in no small part, because we were able to bring people together from around the world, via the Internet.""
+The full text of the recommendations was posted on the Internet at http://www.iahc.org, Heath said. The proposal will be open for public comment until DATE and a final report is expected by DATE.
+New names and competing registration services should help quell disputes over popular or trademarked names.
+Disputes are arising more frequently, usually when the holder of a trademark discovers that someone else is using their trademark as the name of an Internet site.
+For example, ORG ORG music channel fought with CARDINAL of its employees, who had registered ""mtv.com,"" eventually regaining control of the name in an out-of-court settlement.
+In another case, a journalist tweaked ORG by registering ""mcdonalds.com"" before the fast-food giant did and before the Web had attained its current prominence. The address now belongs to ORG.
+Once new top-level domain names are available, CARDINAL people or organisations could register similar names. The new top-level domains will contain CARDINAL letters but have not yet been selected.
+The committee included members from the Internet Society, which helps coordinate and develop Net standards; the Internet Assigned Number Authority, which oversees certain of the standards, and ORG, which helps draft and promulgate new technical standards.
+The committee also included representatives from ORG, EVENT and ORG.","NORP power producer ORG a.s. on DATE said its DATE net profit hit MONEY crowns, up from CARDINAL for DATE, according to international accounting standards, as household electricity demand surged.
+ORG's Director of Planning and Analysis section Petr Voboril told a news conference that higher depriciation write-offs due to the opening of new installations cut the company's tax obligations, and boosting its bottom line.
+The company's gross profit for the period remained flat at CARDINAL.
+NORP accounting put the firm's profit for DATE at MONEY, up from MONEY DATE.
+ORG said the result did not change the firm's profit forecast under NORP standards for DATE, which is MONEY crowns, equal to DATE.
+A financial statement showed ORG wrote off MONEY in DATE compared with CARDINAL in DATE, and paid CARDINAL in income tax after CARDINAL DATE.
+""Above all, lowering of tax obligations in connection with depriciation policy have influenced this (profit) increase,"" PERSON said.
+He said that overall demand for electricity rose by PERCENT in the period, and is expected to reach a record high of CARDINAL terrawatthours, PERCENT up DATE, for DATE.
+Household consumption drove the increase, rising PERCENT, while large clients demanded PERCENT more power over the same period of the last year.
+Voboril said that a recent ruling by ORG on maximum prices ORG can charge regional power distributors did not effect results thanks to the sales increase.
+The ministry decided that the maximum average price ORG can charge for supplies DATE is CARDINAL crowns per megawatthour, up CARDINAL crowns from DATE but below the firm's CARDINAL crown expectation included in business plan.
+Voboril said that short-term indebtedness of ORG increased as well as financial expenditures due to unpaid recievables from some of the CARDINAL regional distributors, which totalled CARDINAL crowns as of DATE.
+ORG and CARDINAL of the country's CARDINAL regional grid operators had been locked in a price dispute with ORG until the ministry ruling DATE.
+ORG is also considering an international bond issue DATE as it needs financing but has already flooded the domestic market with paper, PERSON said.
+Local analysts welcomed the results but said they did not expect them to help ORG's share price much as ORG is plagued by a lack of confidence.
+""The ORG results are slightly better than I expected. ORG is fundamentally undervalued but genereal market sentiment is not very strong,"" said PERSON of Zivnostenska Banka. ""I don't expect the price to go CARDINAL in DATE.""
+ORG shares closed up CARDINAL crowns on ORG on DATE to close at CARDINAL.
+-- Prague PRODUCT, CARDINAL-2-2423-0003",0
+"NORP electrical equipment company PERSON aims to almost double its return on equity capital to PERCENT in DATE, executive vice president PERSON told ORG.
+""Our objective is to have a net return on capital, before amortisation of goodwill, of PERCENT...in DATE,"" he said in an interview. ""It's a reasonable plan.""
+That compared to PERCENT in DATE, he said. The improvement will come from pruning down PRODUCT to core electrical activities and an internal re-engineering programme.
+Schneider shares have risen strongly in DATE as analysts considered the stock undervalued and welcomed the pending sale of the ORG unit, which has dragged on the group's results.
+The stock has risen PERCENT since DATE when news of its ORG sale hit the market. The shares closed on DATE at MONEY. CARDINAL of the capital is in non-domestic hands.
+All the group companies are profitable and with the sale of construction company PERSON, PERSON is at a ""diamond point,"" ORG said.
+Staib did not rule out further disposals depending on market and technology changes but PERSON is now well-focused.
+Schneider will seek growth in emerging markets, in LOC and LOC, including GPE. It wants LOC to contribute PERCENT of group turnover before DATE compared to PERCENT in DATE.
+Schneider has expanded its operations in GPE, increasing the number of employees to CARDINAL from CARDINAL DATE.
+The company also wants to increase its share in GPE from a tiny PERCENT of a market which ORG says is the world's ORDINAL largest. GPE accounted for PERCENT of turnover in DATE, or MONEY.
+It will seek alliances with other industrial companies rather than acquire firms, as the GPE market is tightly held. Expansion in emerging markets will also be done through local alliances and joint ventures.
+Schneider DATE bought out ORG PERCENT share in ORG unit.
+Schneider posted DATE sales of MONEY and net attributable profit of CARDINAL. It reported DATE half net profit of MONEY, at the low end of market expectations.
+Schneider is selling Spie to Amec Plc and to ORG employees for MONEY, subject to regulatory approvals. Amec will gain CARDINAL of CARDINAL for an injection of CARDINAL stg.
+-- PERSON, GPE newsroom +33 CARDINAL DATE","The CARDINAL partners of the ORG consortium DATE signed an agreement aimed at making the NORP planemaker a unified company better able to compete with GPE rival ORG
+ORG said in a statement its CARDINAL NORP partners had signed a memorandum of understanding to restructure ORG into a limited liability company by DATE.
+""The establishment of ORG as a single corporate entity (ORG) is an important initial step in the consolidation of the aerospace industry within LOC,"" ORG said.
+Toulouse, GPE-based ORG is currently a partnership between NORP state-owned ORG, ORG, ORG (ORG) and ORG (GPE) of GPE.
+The new ORG will have a single management structure which would add engineering, testing, production, procurement and customer service to ORG's current marketing, sales and product support activities, the statement said.
+ORG Chairman PERSON told reporters in GPE that differences remained among the partners in the consortium despite the signing of the deal on DATE.
+He said there were still different views over the amount of productive assets that should be brought in to the limited liability company which is to replace the existing partnership.
+An industry executive said what follows now would be ""horse-trading"" as the partners discuss what assets are deemed necessary now that the functions for the new ORG have been decided. ""Is this plant an essential part of the function of the future ORG,"" will be the question to be asked, he said.
+The ORG statement said ""Transfer of assets associated with these functions... will depend on how far the assets are essential for the described functions and their detailed valuation, to be completed by DATE.""
+The NORP and NORP had argued for a high degree of integration in the new ORG, while PERSON wanted a more cautious approach, based on a largely static view of ORG.
+ORG is mainly a sales and marketing organisation with the CARDINAL partners making the planes. But the task of reorganizing ORG took on an urgent note after ORG and ORG said in DATE they would merge and form a civil and military giant with MONEY in DATE sales.
+ORG said the restructured company would help improvement in overall operational efficiency, the introduction of new international strategic partnerships and the longer term opportunity for ""external participation"" in ORG.
+ORG spokesman PERSON said that these options included a future stock market listing of ORG.
+In GPE, a ORG spokesman said a share flotation for ORG was a ""long-term possibility.""
+ORG said it was studying a launch of the LOC, which would break the stranglehold on the lucrative high-capacity end of the market now held by ORG's PRODUCT jumbo jet.
+Aerospatiale Chairman PERSON told journalists that he had met the chairman of GPE giant PERSON, PERSON, for cooperation talks and did not exclude a role in the LOC project for the GPE company.
+""You cannot get enough of the right kind of partners in this sort of project..."" ORG said, citing PERSON as a potential partner.
+But ORG told the PERSON magazine that no decision was expected DATE on the LOC project as talks with airlines had shown detailed consultations were still needed, in view of the huge financial effort needed.
+The goal of the new ORG company must be to achieve a return on equity of PERCENT for its shareholders, ORG said. That meant that ORG must match cost cuts of PERCENT already made by ORG and BAe, he said.
+Bischoff told reporters in GPE that ORG and NORP plane companies could become ORG partners, as well as ORG and GPE's GPE.",1
+"Calling it a crucial change for how it develops new cars and trucks, ORG DATE launched a new computer-aided design project based on a computer programme from ORG..
+ORG said the new project, called C3P, will cut prototype costs by PERCENT; improve investment efficiency by PERCENT; and eliminate CARDINAL of costly late development changes.
+""The new C3P initiative represents the most fundamental change of the engineering computer infrastructure in ORG's history,"" PERSON, director of product development systems at ORG's ORG, said in a statement.
+Officials did not specify any dollar amount savings. But executives said they fall under previously disclosed product development cost savings. CARDINAL new vehicle programmes started DATE will use C3P.
+Once the programme is fully implemented in DATE, ORG said it will merge computer-aided design, manufacturing and engineering functions into a seamless, unified system encompassing all stages of vehicle and component development.
+ORG's decision to team up with ORG (SDRC) raised eyebrows at competitors. The ORG, GPE-based firm is a small player in the market of supplying computer aided design and manufacturing systems (ORG/ORG) to the auto industry, according to both competitors and analysts.
+""You just don't hear about SDRC,"" said PERSON, an executive engineer at ORG
+Bienkowski also chided ORG for launching a new design programme DATE after ORG did.
+""We made the decision to go to a single system like C3P back in DATE,"" he said.
+ORG, as well as several other NORP and NORP automakers, use the more popular CATIA programme from GPE-based ORG and ORG..
+PERSON, president of market research firm ORG in GPE, GPE, said the SDRC system is an easy-to-use, powerful system that should serve ORG well.
+""All in all, I don't think ORG made a bad decision,"" he said.
+ORG made the C3P announcement as part of a DATE presentation to reporters touting the No. CARDINAL GPE automaker's computer capabilities. Among other news items announced DATE, ORG:
+-- plans to eliminate PERCENT of its physical prototypes by DATE in favour of electronic versions. Physical prototypes now constitute PERCENT DATE;
+-- will be able to conduct a computer-simulated frontal crash for $MONEY in DATE, compared to the $MONEY it currently costs;
+-- will introduce a production car in LOC in DATE that was designed almost completely using computer technology.
+ORG executives were hard-pressed to assign dollar amounts to all of the new computer design and prototype initiatives.
+But PERSON, director of advanced design at ORG, said the new systems dramatically improve quality and free designers and engineers to take more risks.","ORG, seeking to expand in the market for boys' toys, agreed to buy ORDINAL-ranked ORG for MONEY, the companies said DATE.
+The proposed union will combine ORG's PERSON dolls, Hot Wheels miniature cars and ORG toys with ORG's PRODUCT cars, WORK_OF_ART toys and radio-controlled vehicles.
+""We really believe that the boys' toy business is a very important one. We have never had big market share in that category,"" ORG President PERSON said in a telephone interview.
+Under the agreement, ORG shareholders will receive ORG stock valued at $MONEY per ORG share, representing a PERCENT premium above DATE's closing price for ORG stock.
+Shares of ORG jumped MONEY, while ORG fell MONEY to $MONEY, both on ORG.
+The proposed transaction follows ORG's unsuccessful effort DATE to acquire No. CARDINAL rival ORG ORG, the nation's largest toymaker, was forced to withdraw its unwelcome bid due to widespread concern about its effect on competition.
+ORG said the ORG transaction was expected to be completed in DATE and would add to its earnings in DATE. The boards of both companies have approved the merger.
+The proposed transaction followed discussions that began with a DATE meeting between ORG and ORG Chief Executive Officer PERSON. Representatives of both companies met again on DATE.
+Industry experts said the proposed acquisition will accomplish many of the same goals for ORG as the failed ORG transaction.
+""It's been something they have been trying to do for DATE and years,"" said ORG analyst PERSON of ORG's desire to boost its presence in boys' markets.
+""The outstanding worldwide potential for ORG's well-known brands will be fully realised through this merger with ORG,"" ORG Chairman PERSON said in a statement.
+Although the union will combine CARDINAL of the nation's biggest toymakers, ORG said antitrust issues were not expected to be significant. She noted that the combined companies will hold PERCENT market share in the highly fragmented industry.
+""The market shares are still low even when you look at the category breakdowns,"" she said in a telephone interview.
+ORG, based in LOC, GPE, had DATE revenues of MONEY. ORG, based in GPE, GPE, had DATE sales MONEY. No. CARDINAL toy maker ORG had DATE sales of MONEY.
+But some analysts cited concern about antitrust implications, citing potential market overlap of ORG's ORG and ORG's Matchbox units, CARDINAL leading miniature car brands.
+""I think it's going to be a long process in getting the OK of regulators. After the ORG debacle, anything ORG does at this point will be looked at by the regulators,"" said CARDINAL analyst who did not want to be identified.
+For money-losing ORG, the acquisition will represent the culmination of its turnaround efforts. The toymaker DATE cut PERCENT of its work force as part of a restructuring aimed at returning to profitability.
+With its deep pockets, leading market presence and long global reach, ORG would easily capitalise on ORG's products, analysts said.
+""ORG clearly has ways to enhance the revenue growth of ORG and expand it internationally. ORG is getting into a fairly cleaned-up situation,"" WORK_OF_ART said.
+The proposed combination will also strengthen ORG's position in plush toys, where ORG is a market leader.
+ORG said the deal includes a fee of MONEY that would be payable to ORG if another company lured ORG with a higher bid. It also calls for a break-up fee of MONEY if the transaction is not completed within DATE.
+ORG declined to specify anticipated cost savings associated with the deal, saying, ""There are a lot and they cover many categories."" She also said it was too early to assess the potential impact of the deal on ORG's work force.",0
+"In the true spirit of the lightning-fast world of the Internet, the browser wars which peaked in DATE have now been replaced by the battle for delivering content efficiently over the Web.
+DATE will see an intensifying battle between products that deliver information directly to a computer, rather than stumbling around looking for it with often lengthy and cumbersome Web addresses.
+The competition centers on tranforming the Internet from a ""pull"" model, in which people actively search the Web for information or use software agents to do that for them, to a ""push"" model, in which people can choose once what they want to be sent and it is published to them continuously.
+""Everybody knows who they want to get information from. The real problem is: When is it that they have information that I care about?"" said PERSON, chief executive of ORG, a GPE, Calif.-based start-up.
+""What people want is to build relationships,"" he said.
+PERSON, president of ORG ORG unit, likens the initial enthusiasm for surfing the Net to Sunday drives in DATE of the automobile, a pleasant but passing phenomenon.
+Electronic commerce over the Internet, which is expected to gather steam in DATE, requires a more efficient way of navigating the information superhighway, executives say.
+CARDINAL companies, mostly small high-tech start-ups, have been busily seeking to define the space, much as search engines like ORG, ORG, ORG and ORG have done in helping people search out what they want.
+""As it was for search engines DATE, this is an area that has been more or less discovered by venture capitalists and others as something that has to be dealt with,"" said PERSON, managing editor of ORG ComputerLetter.
+In addition to the impracticality of aiming to find real-time information in the CARDINAL Web pages that search engines catalog, many companies would like to be able to update customers and suppliers directly.
+""There are some obvious problems with DATE's browse-and-pull technique for getting at information when you need it,"" ORG said. ""So there is a proliferation of new companies and new products from old companies aimed at solving this.""
+CARDINAL companies are now vying for attention, including Ex Machina, which is providing a wireless news alerting system made by ORG, and GPE-based ORG Com.
+So far, the category has been dominated by CARDINAL pioneering entry, GPE, Calif.-based ORG, which burst onto the scene in DATE with a screen saver display which offers customized and updated news, data and advertising.
+""The biggest application that's got the visibility with this type of technology is ORG,"" said PERSON, chief executive of ORG.. ""ORG has got everybody now aware of how I can subscribe to things.""
+Another hot LOC start-up in the sector is ORG, founded by PERSON and CARDINAL colleagues from ORG team which created the popular new PERSON programming language.
+Industry executives say competition is vital to expanding the marketplace, but it also creates confusion as companies vie for a share of the action.
+""I think there's a lot of confusion in the market,"" said PERSON. ""You hear a lot of names when people talk about this space, and the reason is the space is huge.""
+Technologies that transform the way information is delivered on the Web, such as those which ORG will announce DATE, may help expand the market, according to industry analysts and executives.
+""We are essentially a plumbing company, so we do plumbing software, and people like PERSON and ORG and ORG can actually make use of our software,"" said Ranadive.
+""Now the technology they presently use to do this is a pull technology and so you can emulate a push by going out and asking a lot of questions,"" he added. ""But you're tying up the network, you're tying up the server by doing that.""","A senior executive of ORG said the company sees no sign of any reduction in the dramatic growth in the market for Internet and intranet, and expects to hold onto a good share of the market.
+PERSON, vice president of marketing, also said in an interview the company currently has CARDINAL users of its LAW software for browsing the Internet, comprising PERCENT of the total browser market.
+Critical approval for its new ORG software now being publicly previewed has topped expectations, he added.  
+""We're holding market share. The market's growing very dramatically, we see no signs of that abating,"" Homer said in a telephone interview. ""We have a great new product coming, so it gives us every reason to believe that we're going to continue to do really well.""
+Homer declined to comment on the company's expected results for DATE, or on DATE, citing the quiet period ahead of the earnings report that is expected to be released on DATE.
+Shares of PRODUCT tumbled CARDINAL earlier to close at CARDINAL following an analyst's downgrade of the stock.  
+The analyst, ORG PERSON, said in a research report he trimmed his rating to accumulate from a buy due partly to the stock's proximity to his target of $MONEY and partly to concern over its major product transition, and its shift to a new pricing model and a longer sales cycle.
+Homer declined to talk about revenue expectations, but said that of the reviews to date for the ORG product ORDINAL shown on DATE, ""PERCENT are incredibly positive.""  
+""It's a better reception than any product we've ever done so far. It's going to be a smash hit product,"" he predicted.
+Homer also projected the electronic mail component of the product will overtake rival e-mail products DATE.
+He said PERCENT of ORG's enterprise customers are on a yearly subscription basis.
+""There's really no delaying (of revenue) based on these product cycles,"" he said. ""It may be the case that a new product will bring in new users because customers get excited about it, so there's definitely upside.""  
+The ORG is expected to undergo substantial preview testing, before being finalized in DATE.
+""The most important indicator of our success is our new product acceptance, and ORG has exceeded all of our best expectations, so I think that's all a good picture for DATE,"" he added.
+Homer said he expects ORG server products to continue growing rapidly and repeated he sees no price pressure on the browser product despite ORG free distribution of its Internet Explorer browser software.
+ORG analyst PERSON said the consensus revenue estimate for DATE is MONEY, with his own estimate slightly below that at MONEY, rising slightly to MONEY in DATE.
+""The fundamentals continue to be intact,"" he said.
+PERSON warned he did not see the upside surprise in DATE that PRODUCT has shown in DATE.
+((-- ORG +1 415 846 5400))",1
+"ORG and ORG on DATE agreed to a MONEY deal that combines their natural gas assets and gives ORG access to a broader base of customers for its electricity and security services.
+The deal reflects the moves within the utility industry to prepare for further deregulation.
+Under the agreement, PERSON will take all the natural gas assets of ORG, making it the ORDINAL largest gas distribution company in GPE serving CARDINAL customers. GPE-based ORG is the parent of ORG
+ORG, based in GPE, GPE, will become the largest equity holder in ORG, receiving CARDINAL new shares of ORG common stock and preferred stock that will be convertible, upon necessary regulatory approvals, into CARDINAL shares of ORG common. Its total stake in ORG is PERCENT.
+The deal is expected to close by DATE, following approval by ORG shareholders and federal and state regulatory authorities.
+""They (PERSON) are a total gas company. They understand the gas business better than we do,"" ORG president PERSON said in a telephone interview.
+By swapping its gas assets, ORG will be able to focus its efforts on growing its electricity and home-security businesses, both of which involve a customer base of home owners and TIME monitoring of consumers.
+ORG's CARDINAL customers could become potential clients of ORG services.
+""Western Rseources has been becoming a nationwide marketer of retail energy -- electricity and/or gas -- and home security,"" ORG analyst PERSON said. ""This combination gives them direct access to another CARDINAL gas customers, which in the future ... would be potential electric customers and also electronic home security customers.""
+The companies said the alliance will position the companies to take advantage of the expected deregulation of the electricity industry, allowing customers to buy electrical power from several sources instead of just the local utility. That type of deregulation is already taking place in the natural gas industry.
+""Eventuallly there will be total competition in electricity and in gas,"" PERSON, ORG chairman, told a teleconference. ""We are just preparing for the future.""
+The companies said ORG's independence would be preserved by standstill provisions in the agreement that define the rights and responsibilities of the respective companies for DATE.
+ORG will receive a preferred dividend of CARDINAL times the underlying common dividend, which now stands at MONEY a share, but MONEY per preferred share per year for DATE.
+PERSON analyst PERSON said ORG natural gas assets earned that company MONEY in DATE. As part of ORG, the assets likely will earn more, given that company's expertise in gas distributions and synergies from its existing gas business.
+With its stake in ORG, ORG will still benefit from a portion of the gas earnings, as well as future gas alliances that PERSON might enter into in the future.
+""PERSON would continue to search for opportunities to acquire more customers on the gas side. We're most supportive of that,"" ORG said.
+He added that ORG continues to look for ways to expand its electricity and home-security businesses.
+((ORG Chicago Newsdesk (CARDINAL) DATE))","DATE after pleading guilty to price fixing and agreeing to pay MONEY in fines, ORG lost CARDINAL key executives DATE, as the giant agricultural products company remained dogged by controversy.
+ORG said PERSON, vice chairman and son of influential Chairman PERSON, took a temporary leave, and PERSON, a vice president in charge of corn refining, retired for medical reasons relating to progressive heart disease.
+PERSON and PERSON are being investigated by ORG in connection with a price-fixing scheme.
+The GPE, Ill.-based company, which advertises itself as ""WORK_OF_ART,"" has said previously that indictments were being considered against ORG and PERSON.
+On DATE, ORG pleaded guilty to CARDINAL counts of pricing-fixing and agreed to pay MONEY in fines to the federal government, the largest penalty ever in a criminal antritust case.
+DATE, Deputy Assistant Attorney General PERSON said federal authorities were still gathering evidence in the case involving PERSON and PERSON.
+PERSON, an analyst with ORGamp; GPE, said some had expected ORG and PERSON to step down. ""I'd say it's hardly unexpected given the circumstances,"" he said.
+The announcement that PERSON was taking leave and ORG had retired came after the company's shareholder meeting DATE at its central GPE headquarters here. No mention of the investigation of the CARDINAL executives was made by the company during the meeting.
+PERSON, like other ORG officials who spoke at the meeting, used mostly euphemisms when referring to ORG's guilty pleas to CARDINAL counts of pricing-fixing and an agreement to pay MONEY in fines to the GPE government.
+""I acknowledge to you that this occurred on my watch as chairman of your company,"" PERSON told shareholders at the DATE meeting here. ""You have my apology and my commitment that things are arranged so that this will never happen again.""
+One of the few direct mentions of the antitrust investigation came in response to a question from PERSON of ORG, an institutional shareholder.
+PERSON asked why ORG had not notified shareholders officially of its guilty pleas to CARDINAL counts of price fixing and the MONEY plea. PERSON, corporate secretary and general counsel, said the company did not consider it necessary given the amount of publicity the antitrust settlement received.
+ORG board member PERSON, former Prime Minister of GPE, told shareholders the ""consensual resolution"" with ORG was reached after negotiations with the board's special committee of independent directors.
+""This has been a terribly unfortunate experience for the company and we as a committee deeply deplore it,"" PERSON said.""It is our intention to ensure that the company learns from mistakes in the past and acts so that they never happen again,"" PERSON said.
+A proposal requiring the board be composed of a majority of independent directors was defeated, but received PERCENT of the votes cast.
+Other shareholder proposals addressing corporate governance issues did not pass. ORG's slate of CARDINAL directors was approved by PERCENT of the votes cast, the company announced.
+The new board, which was reduced in number from CARDINAL, was hailed by ORG as a more independent body since PERSON is the only company executive remaining on the board.
+The antitrust investigation sparked criticism from some large shareholders who questioned the independence of ORG's board of directors and its ability to oversee management.
+In a statement released following the meeting, PERSON, chairman of ORG (Calpers), said ""Calpers will continue to meet with directors and pursue the wishes of shareholders that want a majority of independent directors and increased oversight of the ORG board.""",1
+"NORP car giant ORG is expected to make a decision on whether to go ahead with building a new medium-sized vehicle for the NORP market in DATE, according to the head of its GPE operations.
+PERSON, managing director of ORG GPE and vice-president of LOC, said in an interview with ORG he would be presenting his plan to the ORG board in GPE DATE.
+But he added that the investment size, design details and production were yet to be thrashed out. Gibson said it was still an open verdict on whether the plan would go ahead.
+Speaking from ORG in GPE, he said the new car would be between its small GPE and larger GPE, based on the Almeira model which is currently manufactured in GPE and shipped to LOC.
+""If we build the car in LOC, the design and develoment is purely for a model destined for LOC, not one that has to include a number of viewpoints for world export.""
+""We will do it from scratch if it goes ahead,"" said PERSON.
+But he added that if the decision is given the go-ahead DATE it would mean moving up to CARDINAL units of capacity from GPE into LOC.
+""The question is what opportunities are there for GPE to use that excess capacity for something else?""
+Gibson said this was part of the equation in the decision but refused to outline what options the GPE headquarters were looking at in terms of ""new models and new markets.""
+If ORG does decide to build the new model in LOC it would be manufactured in the GPE or GPE.
+Gibson was circumspect about the cost of developing and putting the new model on sale, saying ""I can't see it happening for MONEY (stg). But that's the absolute minimum.
+He refused to cite a top end figure, but separately spoke of the general industry cost of building and marketing a new vehicle, estimating it at CARDINAL stg.
+On ORG's NORP sales for DATE, PERSON said there would be a modest rise, predicting PERCENT sales growth for DATE.","Facing declining GPE cereal volumes in an intensely competitive market, ORG said it is launching promotional programs to boost its sales.
+""We'll be taking what we believe are appropriate actions,"" ORG spokesman PERSON said DATE.
+Kellogg refused to outline what those programs might include. Analysts said they don't expect the cereal giant to return to deep-discount coupons or buy-one, get-CARDINAL-free promotional giveaways.  
+""It's sort of left to speculation what they're going to do,"" SBC GPE analyst PERSON said.
+""There is no indication that, at this time, they have shifted from their long-term strategic goal, which is to reduce inefficient promotions,"" added ORG analyst PERSON.
+Whatever form the marketing actions take -- perhaps offering additional modest coupons in DATE newspaper supplements or some form of price promotion -- the programs will be launched in DATE.  
+ORG, like other major cereal makers, cut cereal prices DATE in an effort to attract consumers back to the cereal aisle.
+But those price cuts alone apparently were not enough to jump-start consumer purchases, according to ORG analyst PERSON.
+""The message there is that prices have to come down further,"" PERSON added.
+The drop in GPE cereal sales contributed to a decline in DATE operating earnings of $MONEY a share, before a $MONEY charge, compared with $MONEY DATE.  
+ORG's decision to launch promotions follows a decline in DATE GPE cereal sales volume, which analysts estimate at PERCENT.
+""We can't detail it. It was DATE in the GPE and our volume was down,"" PERSON said.
+ORG's sales volume declined due to intense competition in GPE, as other producers continued coupons and other promotions in a sluggish cereal market. ORG said DATE GPE cereal industry sales grew PERCENT, measuring all retail outlets.
+""As previously forecast, DATE performance was influenced significantly by competitive conditions in the GPE cereal category,"" PERSON, chairman, said in the DATE earnings statement.
+According to ORG data, GPE ready-to-eat cereal sales in grocery stores only fell PERCENT to MONEY for DATE, according to the most recent data available, compared with DATE.
+ORG's sales volume declined in that period by PERCENT to MONEY for a market share of PERCENT, ORG said.
+ORG Chicago PERSON",0
+"ORG took the wraps off its much awaited DATE ORG Corvette amid a shower of sparks and blaring music DATE, rounding out a day of coupe introductions at ORG.
+The new Corvette is the ORDINAL generation of the classic GPE muscle car, and the ORDINAL redesign since the DATE model year vehicle. The manufacturer's suggested retail prices for the car, which starts arriving at dealerships in DATE, is $MONEY, an increase of $MONEY over the previous model.
+ORG Chairman PERSON said the new Corvette will continue its long-time tradition as ORG's signature sports car.
+""It's the image car for ORG. Always has been and always will be,"" he said.
+Although its looks are similar to the old one, ORG touts the new Corvette as all new from ""rubber to roof.""
+The DATE version carries a new QUANTITY, small block engine that produces CARDINAL horsepower from a smaller unit. The car also features a stiffer frame, all-new suspension, a larger interior, PERCENT more cargo room, and is easier to get in and out of.
+Some critics have said the design of the new model, which has been under development for DATE, is too close to the current model. But ORG General Manager PERSON said Corvette buyers, some of the most loyal in the industry, did not want a radical design change.
+""We did a lot of research and testing and the customer wanted Corvette cues,"" he told reporters following the introduction.
+The ORDINAL generation 'PRODUCT, a closely guarded secret, was ORG's highest profile scheduled introduction at the GPE auto show. The company made the most of it by posting sheriff's deputies outside of the press conference who turned away executives from other auto companies who wanted to watch the introduction.
+DATE production at its PERSON, GPE, plant is expected to be CARDINAL units, ORG said. However, production for calendar DATE will be CARDINAL because the company will not get DATE of straight-time production.
+Also introduced DATE was the ORG, a CARDINAL-seat coupe that will sell for MONEY. The new coupe shares the round front headlights of the Mercedes C-Class sedan.
+ORG said it will offer CARDINAL versions of the new coupe and CARDINAL engine choices. The car will begin hitting dealer showrooms in GPE in DATE.
+ORG unveiled its new PRODUCT coupe. Pricing was not set, but ORG officials said it would be similar to current PRODUCT prices. ORG is aiming the vehicle at younger buyers who want performance. The new car, which goes on sale in DATE, will come with a CARDINAL horsepower, CARDINAL-valve engine with a dual overhead camshaft.
+Earlier, ORG of EVENT were announced. The new ORG SLK roadster edged out the Jaguar XK8 for the car award. ORG's new ORG full-size sport utility won the truck award.","GPE on DATE savoured its latest victory in a diplomatic tug-of-war with GPE, while the stunned island scrambled to limit the damage from GPE decision to abandon it.
+NORP President PERSON said in GPE on DATE that GPE would switch diplomatic recognition from GPE to GPE by DATE.
+GPE hailed the move, saying it was in GPE interest.
+""We ...welcome President PERSON's positive statement concerning normalisation of relations between GPE and GPE,"" ORG spokesman PERSON told a news briefing in GPE.
+""If GPE can recognise reality at an earlier date it is in its own interest to do so,"" PERSON said.
+GPE and GPE have been diplomatic rivals since the end of EVENT in DATE.
+GPE regards GPE as a rebel province and has sought to push the island into diplomatic isolation. GPE insists its CARDINAL people should have a voice in international affairs.
+GPE is the biggest of just CARDINAL states that recognise GPE's exiled ORG rather than the communist GPE on the mainland.
+The NORP government spokesman said GPE was the sole, legitimate government of all GPE.
+""GPE must recognise there is only one GPE, recognise that GPE is a part of GPE and sever so-called diplomatic relations with GPE,"" PERSON said.
+Wealthy but diplomatically isolated GPE was stunned by PERSON's announcement and scrambled to limit the damage by urging its CARDINAL other allies not to be swayed by GPE.
+""We hope such a situation won't affect our diplomatic relations with other countries...,"" GPE's Foreign Minister PERSON said in a televised news conference in GPE.
+""We will actively negotiate with GPE in DATE,"" PERSON said, adding that he might visit GPE before an official visit scheduled for DATE.
+GPE Ambassador to ORG urged the island not to exact reprisals against GPE.
+But GPE's top economic planner said the island would not continue to encourage investment in GPE.
+Tuntex, one of the island's major business groups, said earlier on DATE it would respect the government's wishes in deciding whether to move ahead with a planned MONEY petrochemical project in GPE.
+GPE officials said they would conduct an overall review of NORP investments in GPE, currently totalling MONEY.
+GPE decision to switch ties to GPE sent GPE stocks into a brief dive, but the market had recovered by the close. Many businesssmen played down any potential for serious, long-term harm.
+The GPE dollar closed little changed against its GPE counterpart despite news of the island's diplomatic setback.
+NORP officials blamed GPE for GPE decision to ditch GPE, saying GPE was ""buying"" foreign ties and damaging chances for reunification between the longtime rivals.
+There were no protests at GPE's embassy in GPE, contrasting with the public outrage displayed in DATE after GPE, GPE and other former allies dropped GPE for GPE.",0
+"Shivering icewine enthusiasts, battered by icy winds, headed into a snow-covered vineyard on TIME to harvest CARDINAL of the world's rarest wines.
+Although GPE discovered the luscious dessert wine in DATE, GPE is the world's largest producer of icewine -- capturing many international awards and helping shed an industry reputation for screw-top plonk that neither amuses nor has any pretentions.
+If you can find it, this ""liquid gold"" can cost MONEY ($MONEY) a bottle in icewine-crazy GPE -- CARDINAL times the price in GPE. GPE is by far the biggest export market, but GPE and GPE are also developing a taste for it.
+But on this cold TIME a cup of piping hot coffee could fetch a better price than any chilled wine. ""It's cold, hard work. You're outside in the dark picking frozen grapes and wondering why you're not asleep like normal people,"" PERSON, general manager of ORG, said on TIME tour of ORG's icewine fields.
+Most of the NORP vintage comes from the GPE wine region where CARDINAL wineries produced QUANTITY (CARDINAL liters) in DATE. That is up PERCENT from DATE but paltry compared to QUANTITY (CARDINAL liters) of regular wine produced yearly in GPE, GPE's most populous province.
+Some GPE wineries produce sweet wines but they are shunned by icewine purists because the grapes are artificially frozen. ""Their wine is interesting, but it's not in the same league as icewine,"" PERSON said.
+IT MAY BE RARE BUT IT TASTES LIKE PEACHES
+Although GPE wineries say their products are unique in taste, icewine is generally amber or golden in colour with a full-flavored taste similar to honey, apricots or peaches. It is thicker than regular wine, with an alcohol content of PERCENT, compared to PERCENT for a cognac or brandy.
+GPE exports icewine to GPE, GPE, GPE, GPE, GPE, GPE and GPE. GPE and GPE are also emerging markets. But the biggest buyers are NORP tourists who flock to the GPE region by the busload -- snapping up several bottles of icewine after a visit to nearby PERSON.
+Hillebrand sells PERCENT of its icewine to NORP who tour its winery. ""Their image of GPE is GPE, Anne of Green Gables and PERSON, and icewine fits in with that image,"" PERSON said.
+DATE, a group of CARDINAL NORP race horse owners descended on another GPE winery and drove off with MONEY worth of icewine. ""They came into the winery, sampled, bought and were back in their bus in TIME,"" recalled PERSON, director of public relations for ORG
+ALMOST AS HARD TO PRODUCE AS GOLD
+It takes every grape from an entire vine to yield enough juice to make CARDINAL bottle of icewine -- CARDINAL times the amount used to make regular wines. Many grapes are lost to hungry birds, hail or harsh DATE winds before they are picked.
+But GPE has plenty of what is needed most to make icewine -- consistently cold weather.
+The grapes -- hardy Vidal or Riesling varieties -- must be picked off the vine when temperatures are well below freezing.
+Most wineries set aside part of their vineyards in DATE when the regular wine harvest ends. By DATE or DATE the shriveled grapes have turned a brownish hue and pickers are on call, waiting for the right weather.
+Berti said PERSON has sometimes forced crews to pick on DATE or EVENT -- although that did not happen DATE.
+""The wind is the biggest problem. TIME we take a break for hot coffee and donuts,"" PERSON, a DATE veteran of the icewine harvest, said.
+The grapes are sorted and rushed to the winery where presses work into TIME. The juice then goes through DATE of fermentation, followed by DATE of ageing in oak barrels to smooth out the acidity and tanins in immature icewine.
+Although GPE has tried to modernise the process by using special presses and protective netting for the grapes, PERSON conceded: ""There is nothing efficent about it. You have to get into the fields when the getting is good.""","PERSON, LOC biggest power utility, said DATE that it would take a huge MONEY (MONEY) charge in DATE to strengthen its financial structure.
+The debt-laden, Ontario government-owned utility said its board of directors also approved a MONEY (MONEY) charge against DATE earnings.
+The charges, related to accounting and operational changes, come as the ruling Conservative government of GPE's most-populous province ponders the privatisation of the massive utility.
+The heavy writedowns add up to an estimated 1996 net loss of MONEY (MONEY), PERSON said in a statement. The utility previously forecast net income of MONEY (MONEY) and MONEY (MONEY).
+""These decisions are driven by our determination to improve nuclear performance and to make capital and policy decisions that enable us to succeed in the business environment we face,"" said PERSON Chief Executive Officer PERSON.
+He said the move will not affect ORG's ability to pay down its debt, estimated at MONEY (MONEY) due to overexpansion.
+PERSON is the continent's largest electricity producer based on installed generating capacity and CARDINAL of the world's biggest non-sovereign borrowers.
+It operates CARDINAL hydro-electric stations, CARDINAL nuclear plants and CARDINAL fossil-fuel stations.
+But competitive pressures from within and outside GPE have forced changes on ORG in DATE.
+DATE, a government commission recommended that PERSON lose its DATE power monopoly and face competition from private NORP power suppliers and U.S.-based competitors.
+Among the operating decisions made DATE, the utility said it will scale back or cancel some projects. The biggest single charge was a MONEY (MONEY) writedown reflecting the costs of surplus heavy water at its nuclear operations.
+The decisions will not affect employee staffing levels at the utility.",1
+"GPE high tech venture fund investment soared PERCENT in the DATE-slow DATE vs. overall GPE venture investment growth of PERCENT from DATE levels, according to a survey released by ORG DATE.
+""It is so hot it's scary,"" PERSON, who compiles the DATE ORG, said in an interview.
+Venture investment in high technology industries, from computer software and semiconductors to medical instruments, rose to MONEY in DATE, accounting for CARDINAL of the MONEY invested during the period, the survey found.
+Software investments alone more than doubled from DATE levels to MONEY, and in DATE alone reached MONEY, more than the MONEY recorded for the sector in all of DATE.
+For DATE, total venture-backed investments in the country reached MONEY, nearly the MONEY reported for DATE.
+""Based on the current rate of venture capital investments, DATE will certainly be DATE,"" PERSON, chairman of ORG, said in a statement accompanying the results.
+DATE total figure of MONEY was a sequential drop from the blistering MONEY pace the industry recorded in DATE.
+""DATE numbers are traditionally lower than DATE numbers because deal flow slows considerably in DATE,"" said PERSON, president of ORG.
+""But the venture capital industry still remains strong. Good deals are being made across the country in all industries.""
+Companies in the start-up and early stages attracted the greatest level of venture capital investment, the study found, with these comprising PERCENT of the CARDINAL companies receiving funds and accounting for MONEY invested.
+On average start-up companies received MONEY in funding and, communications firms accounted for PERCENT of the total invested in this category.
+Funding for Internet-related companie continued at the high level set in DATE, with CARDINAL Internet-related companies receiving funding in DATE period by CARDINAL times.
+In a new trend, DATE venture investment activity appeared to expand beyond the traditionally dominant LOC and LOC areas, whose combined share of investment fell to PERCENT of value invested.
+Typically the CARDINAL regions account for PERCENT of the total amount invested by venture funds, and experts said it confirms atriend towards more even distribution.
+""Nobody in LOC is going to panic,"" because of the increase in funding outside the key areas, ORG said.
+- sam.perry@reuters.com +1415 CARDINAL","ORG on DATE became the latest NORP regional electricity company (Rec) to attract bid speculation after ORG was reported to be planning a QUANTITY (MONEY) bid.
+ORG declined comment on the report in ORG.
+""It is speculation and obviously we can't comment on a rumour,"" a ORG spokeswoman said.
+Shares in the company leapt to a high of MONEY before easing back to MONEY, up MONEY by DATE ORG.
+ORG said on DATE that a QUANTITY bid for the Rec could be in the offing.
+It said confidential ORG company documents showed the company seeking MONEY for an acquisition.
+The documents used a code name ""LOC"" for the target company whose financial profile, the newspaper said, met that of ORG on a number of points.
+The ORG said the bid was assumed in the documents to be for MONEY per share.
+The newspaper quoted ORG spokesman PERSON as saying ORG was interested in the NORP market and ""obviously if you're interested, CARDINAL of the results could be an acquisition.""
+Sweeney on DATE denied to ORG a report in The DATE Telegraph newspaper that it was considering a bid for ORG.
+But he added, ""We simply don't comment on situations until they get to a point until it is prudent to do so.""
+The electricity sector has seen a flurry of bid speculation recently over the CARDINAL remaining independent NORP.
+ORG currently faces its ORDINAL hostile offer in DATE as it tries to fend off a MONEY bid at MONEY per share from ORG, of which ORG of the GPE holds PERCENT.
+DATE, ORG agreed to a QUANTITY offer at MONEY per share from U.S.-based ORG.
+Both bids depend on approval from the NORP government, which has already nodded through the sale of CARDINAL of the original CARDINAL cash-rich PERSON, CARDINAL of which were bought by GPE firms attracted by the looser regulations in the NORP market.
+But concerns that political pressures might prompt the government to block the latest batch of bids have kept share prices of both targets well below offer levels.
+Northern was trading down MONEY at MONEY while GPE off MONEY at MONEY.
+High dividend payouts, hefty executive pay packets and head-turning takeover deals have all contributed to criticism of the electricity sector, which was privatised by the NORP government in DATE.
+The NORP currently lag the opposition Labour party in opinion polls and must hold a general election by DATE.
+An added concern is that approval of current bids would leave CARDINAL independent GPE -- ORG, ORG and PERSON -- which might not be adequate for watchdog PERSON to use as yardsticks. ($MONEY Pound)",0
+"GPE's main oil workers' union, known for its fiercely nationalistic stance and opposition to multinationals, will merge with smaller labor organizations to form an industry-wide front, its leader ORG said on DATE.
+The CARDINAL-strong ORG union, which currently only represents workers of the state oil company Ecopetrol, will approve the decision in a general assembly on DATE in a move that ORG believes could eventually pave the way to a CARDINAL-member ""super- union"".  
+Foreign oil companies fear the move will give the ORG a foothold in their fields, mostly operated by non-unionized workers, and that the union will sour labor relations with its aggressive, left-wing stance. They also accuse the ORG of ties with leftist guerrilla movements, which frequently target the oil industry -- a charge union leaders deny.  
+""This merger will help us maintain union solidarity in the face of detrimental government policies and enable us to present a single platform,"" ORG said. ""This will put us in a better position to defend the future of our natural resources....
+At DATE's meeting in the oil production center PERSON, the ORG will approve a merger with ORG (ORG), which has a small but established presence in a number of multinational oil companies.  
+SINTRAOXY, made up of GPE multinational ORG workers, also seems set to heed the merger call.
+Hernandez said the immediate effect would be the creation of a CARDINAL-strong organization, adding that non-unionized oil companies would be targeted in a drive to create a union CARDINAL members to represent the entire industry.
+DATE the ORG flexed its muscles and paralyzed the country's CARDINAL main oil pipelines for the ORDINAL time ever.  
+The TIME strike was to combat government plans to restructure Ecopetrol, which ORG fears will lead to the company's eventual privatization, and to protest against ORG demands to renegotiate an association contract with the state oil company.
+A foreign oil company senior representative, who did not wish to be named, described ORG's merger plans as an ORG ploy to regain control after seeing its influence progressively eroded by the entry of multinationals into exploration and production.
+""The merger will complicate relations with our labor force and the prospect of having to deal with a belligerent labor union with close ties to the guerrilla movements is far from stimulating,"" the representative said.
+Hector PERSON, head of ORG, confirmed the imminent merger with ORG.
+A ORG spokesman said there was no bar on the merger but said those unions involved would have to formally inform the ministry to gain legal recognition.","A leading lawmaker said on DATE that GPE would continue to be a ""paradise for drug traffickers"" unless ORG voted to overturn a DATE ban on the extradition of drug lords and other criminals wanted abroad.
+""If we don't end the culture of impunity in GPE then we have no right to ask for international help in the fight against drugs,"" said Senator PERSON.
+Giraldo, a member of the ruling ORG but an outspoken opponent of President PERSON, proposed legislation in DATE that would reactivate a DATE extradition treaty with GPE.
+The legislation faces a key hurdle in the ORG on DATE when a CARDINAL-member constitutional committee was set to vote on whether it should be submitted to plenary for approval or thrown out altogether.
+""If we don't restore our (extradition) treaty, GPE will continue to be a paradise for drug traffickers,"" PERSON said in a telephone interview with ORG.
+In the run-up to the vote in the ORG, graffiti has appeared in GPE, home to the criminal syndicate that has dominated the world's cocaine trade, threatening those who support sending NORP to stand trial abroad.
+But growing numbers of legislators appear to be increasingly swayed by GPE argument that extradition is a vital weapon in the drug war. Moreover, some political analysts believe it may be impossible for GPE to regain GPE certification as an ally in the fight against drugs, withdrawn in DATE, unless extradition is reintroduced.
+Samper, dogged by accusations that he took drug money to finance his DATE election campaign, said on DATE he thought PERSON's bill was poorly timed, arguing that priority should be given to a package of tougher penalties for drug crimes currently going through ORG.
+Justice Minister PERSON has spoken out in favour of renewing extradition, however, and PERSON, chief prosecutor and a fervent anti-drug crusader, has even called for extradition to be made retroactive -- a proposal unlikely to please those drug traffickers who surrendered to the NORP authorities in return for lenient treatment.
+While politicians, ministers and lawyers argue the merits of the move, PERCENT of ordinary NORP surveyed by ORG radio in DATE said they opposed extradition.
+Political analysts say such opposition reflected a combination of nationalistic pride and fear that renewing extradition could unleash a new campaign of bombings, kidnappings and assassinations like those led by the late drug lord PERSON in DATE and DATE.",1
+"The head of ORG (BAWC) in GPE, PERSON, said he is confident of a ""dramatic improvement"" in freight handling service standards at GPE's PERSON and FAC airports.
+One leading GPE air freight forwarder said he is just CARDINAL customer who is ""appalled"" at ORG's handling of ex-GPE cargo in GPE. CARDINAL recent consignment took DATE to clear PERSON, the forwarder said speaking to ORG on condition of anonymity, adding he tries to avoid FAC wherever possible because of ""indefensible"" service standards. ORG recently had its ORG service standard award at its main FAC cargo hub revoked.
+PERSON, ORG's regional cargo manager ORG said he is aware of the problems and has assured customers that improvements are under way.
+In an interview in GPE, he said major changes to working practices at PERSON, which receives GPE CARDINAL freighter flights per week, had caused a ""short term downturn in service standards"".
+At FAC, there have also been changes. ORG's newly opened dedicated centre for freight from the LOC region began handling GPE cargo DATE. ORG has said the centre will create a series of customer benefits and relieve pressure from its FAC hub.
+""Again I am confident that we will see a dramatic improvement in our service standards there. I won't deny that we have had problems working in a very old building which is over capacity. We are aware of that and are working very hard to bring our working practices up to date and doing an awful lot of changes in a short time which is causing pain on the labour relations front. We lost the ORG from our main cargo hub but LOC routes and cargo from GPE still goes through an ORG qualified warehouse,"" PERSON said.
+""Things are getting better,"" he added. - Air Cargo Newsroom Tel+44 171 542 7706 Fax+44 171 542 5017","GPE civil aviation department statistics show total air cargo handled in DATE by country rose by PERCENT compared with DATE.
+Air cargo imports on both scheduled and non-scheduled flights reached QUANTITY and QUANTITY for exports.
+The top CARDINAL countries figures (rounded) are shown in tonnes in the table below in alphabetical order.
+			DATE ALL CARGO
+			Unloaded     Loaded    Pct change
+						     from DATE
+AUSTRALIA	    CARDINAL	  CARDINAL    -8.65
+GPE		 CARDINAL	  CARDINAL     CARDINAL
+GPE PRODUCT     CARDINAL	  CARDINAL     CARDINAL
+GPE		 CARDINAL	  CARDINAL     5.69
+GPE		CARDINAL	  CARDINAL     CARDINAL
+GPE		  CARDINAL     CARDINAL
+GPE	  CARDINAL	  3,867     CARDINAL
+ORG	     CARDINAL	  1.634     CARDINAL
+GPE	  CARDINAL	  1,167     CARDINAL
+GPE	  CARDINAL	  CARDINAL    -6.12
+SINGAPORE	    CARDINAL	  3,945    12.30
+TAIWAN		 CARDINAL	  CARDINAL    26.98
+ORGCARDINAL	  CARDINAL     CARDINAL
+GPE		     CARDINAL	  CARDINAL    13.72
+USA		    CARDINAL	 CARDINAL    -1.15
+- Air Cargo Newsroom Tel+44 171 542 7706 Fax+44 542 5017",1
+"A motto of PERSON, chairman of ORG, has been: ""A computer on every desk running ORG software.""
+With that goal almost accomplished, ORG executives have set their sights on other flat surfaces, such as the kitchen counter, the living room's entertainment console and the back of airline seats.
+At a GPE conference for professional programmers, ORG executives outlined the company's plans to take its PRODUCT family of operating systems into more types of computers, such as subway token vending machines, handheld portables and arcade video games.
+The company also said it plans to spend much of its research and development budget to automate management tasks of personal computers and to simplify the machines' operations.
+In DATE, ORG's competitors ORG and ORG have outlined their plans to build new types of computers, called network computers, that are simpler and cheaper to use than personal computers.
+At DATE's Professional Developers Conference, ORG executives said future versions of its PRODUCT -- which control PERCENT of the world's desktop computers -- will do the same things.
+""We are focusing now on the investments people have put in their computing technology and on increasing their returns,"" said PERSON, ORG group vice president.
+Maritz demonstrated software products that can recognize spoken commands. He also demonstrated programs that automatically take care of network chores without human help.
+Features like these will help companies get more out of their investment in ORG products already in place, ORG said.
+He also demonstrated how programmers can use Windows in non-traditional types of computers. He showed a bullet-proof vending machine for GPE subways that uses PRODUCT software to dispense fares on smart cards.","ORG Chairman PERSON said DATE the computer maker's DATE turnaround plan was still on track despite its statement DATE that it will report a DATE operating loss of MONEY.
+Amelio, speaking to CARDINAL of ORG computer enthusiasts at the ORG trade show here also called on several star computer industry executives to express their support for the ORG.
+In his much-anticipated keynote speech, Amelio assured Mac customers the company will have a smooth transition as ORG shores up its finances and overhauls the fundamental software of the ORG.
+""We will encounter a few bumps on the way, but I don't want that to shake your confidence,"" Amelio told ORG customers and software developers. ""We are sticking to our strategy.""
+ORG has been struggling for DATE to stop huge financial losses, develop new software to make the PERSON more modern and increase revenues. Under ORG's DATE plan, it aims to stop financial losses in DATE, develop new products in DATE and increase revenues in DATE.
+Since Amelio became chairman of the GPE, Calif.-based company DATE, he has slashed costs. In DATE, ORG also agreed to buy ORG for MONEY to get its help in revamping the fundamental software of the Mac.
+In order to move developers smoothly from ORG's current operating system to the new system, ORG said it plans to continue to deliver regularly scheduled upgrades to the current system while accelerating development of a new and advanced operating system.
+The new operating system, code-named ""Rhapsody,"" will be based on the merging of technologies from ORG and ORG.
+""Our goal is to be one of the world's strongest brands for consumer, education and the enterprise,"" Apple co-founder and ORG President PERSON said, adding ORG hoped to rely on ORG's multimedia and computing intensive software to accomplish that goal.
+ORG said DATE it expected to report a loss from operations of MONEY because of weak sales of its Performa line of ORG computers. Revenue for the company's DATE is expected to drop PERCENT from the MONEY reported in DATE.
+Amelio blamed the shortfall on weak consumer sales for personal computers rather than a breakdown of ORG's strategy.
+""We had CARDINAL thing that really fell out of bed in a big way and that is, ORG forgot to come,"" he said, referring to the surprisingly low sales of its Performa desktop PC line aimed at consumers.
+DATE ""was about retail sales, not about the fundamentals in the recovery of ORG,"" Amelio told a packed ballroom.
+Industry experts say part of the blame for declining revenue falls on the perception that there is not as much software for the ORG as there is for PCs running PRODUCT software from ORG..
+To boost the PERSON's image, Amelio turned to executives from ORG, ORG, and ORG to announce software plans for future versions of the Mac.
+""We see great opportunities for the Mac in the future,"" said PERSON, ORG vice president in charge of application development.
+At ORG, ORG introduced its Internet Explorer browser for the Mac.
+The ORG, Wash.-based software giant, which has often battled ORG for control of the PC industry, also said it created a new product unit responsible for design and development of a ORG version of its widely used ORG software suite.
+While ORG remains ORG's great nemesis in the operating systems software business, ORG also has long served as the leading independent developer of software applications that run on ORG PRODUCT computers.
+""When ORG's biggest ORDINAL-party developer decides to commit new resources to its ORG applications business, that's a pretty clear sign that there's still money to be made in the ORG market,"" said PERSON, an industry analyst and publisher of Soft*Letter.
+The creation of the new ORG product unit, part of the ORG desktop applications division, marks the ORDINAL time in the history of the division that an entire product unit has focused exclusively on the ORG, ORG said.
+PERSON, chief executives of Internet software vendor PRODUCT, also said his company will release versions of its communication software within DATE that will run on ORG's next-generation operating system.
+ORG's stock closed down MONEY at $MONEY on ORG.",1
+"Angry NORP businesses expressed dismay on DATE after news of another overhaul of telephone prefixes in what is promised to be the final phase of a search for ""future proof"" phone numbers.
+Telecommunications watchdog ORG announced plans to create CARDINAL of new numbers, although GPE has barely recovered from ""PhONEday"" in DATE, when the last batch of new numbers was created and CARDINAL of old ones were made obsolete.
+""These changes mean more disruption and cost to businesses,"" said PERSON, chief executive of ORGamp; Industry. ""...business is bound to be lost because of customers ringing the outdated number.""
+PhONEday cost telecoms giant ORG alone MONEY.
+Each time numbers change, companies have to pay MONEY in notifying business contacts and to change stationery and logos on delivery vans and shopfronts.
+GPE dialling codes will now be lengthened by a uniform CARDINAL prefix in DATE. The current GPE codes of DATE and 0181 will be shortened to CARDINAL and 8, respectively, to be dialled after CARDINAL.
+GPE, ORG (GPE) and the southern LANGUAGE coastal cities of GPE and ORG will also each get a new prefix starting with CARDINAL. Prefixes of CARDINAL are being kept for future generations.
+In an attempt to quell mounting anger and confusion, ORG director general PERSON, who was once memorably quoted as saying he was ""not very good"" at forecasting demand for numbers, pledged the new plan would be robust and flexible.
+""By DATE we will have completed transition to CARDINAL of the most clear, flexible and customer-friendly numbering schemes in the world,"" he said.
+But the opposition ORG called for his suspension pending an inquiry into what it called a renumbering ""shambles"".
+Labour consumer affairs spokesman PERSON said ORG had ignored advice that DATE would not create enough new numbers and another costly upheaval would be needed.
+""Sadly this was ignored. How can the public have any confidence that Mr Cruickshank has got it right?"" he asked.
+Perhaps surprisingly, ORG has backed ORG's new attempt to solve the problem of surging demand for telephone numbers.
+Cruickshank also drew praise from ORG, a professional consumer group, which said the old numbering system had lacked logic and structure.
+""Oftel is to be congratulated -- it has developed a framework that will give GPE telecoms and the country as a whole the necessary stability to enable people to plan for the future in a dynamic and competitive environment,"" it said.
+A range of numbers with the prefix CARDINAL will be reserved for corporate use, so companies can move around the country without changing numbers -- or just keep one number for all sites.
+Mobile, paging and personal numbers are set to take the prefix CARDINAL by DATE, special freephone and local rate services will have the prefix CARDINAL and premium rate numbers will adopt CARDINAL by DATE.
+Nevertheless, Cruickshank voiced uncertainty about long-term future use, musing: ""If you star-gaze way into DATE I have a sneaking suspicion e-mail and voice recognition may well replace numbers.""","ORG is to take delivery of a ORDINAL new ORG PRODUCT freighter DATE to replace a wet leased PRODUCT cargo aircraft on the GPE to GPE route, the airline's cargo marketing and sales director, ORG said.
+The NORP carrier uses PRODUCT freighters wet leased from GPE operators ORG and ORG for its DATE to GPE.
+The ORG freighter is to be returned and ORG's retained until DATE to continue to fly CARDINAL times a week to GPE with the new ORG flying the other CARDINAL, PERSON told ORG in a telephone interview from GPE.
+The PRODUCT will offer GPE extra cargo carrying capacity as it carries QUANTITY compared to QUANTITY for the PRODUCT.
+""The new PRODUCT which is about to be delivered will replace CARDINAL of the DC-10s which is being returned. CARDINAL PRODUCT equals CARDINAL PRODUCT flights and is a welcome addition to our fleet,"" PERSON said
+GPE has CARDINAL PRODUCT and CARDINAL PRODUCT freighter and has  plans to expand its cargo aircraft fleet to DATE.
+PERSON said ORG has now received permission from GPE's ORG to fly into GPE under its own name. ORG specialises in offering its converted aircraft to established airlines on wet lease contracts known as ORG - aircraft, crew, maintenance and insurance.
+-- PRODUCT Tel+44 171 542 7706 Fax+44 171 542 5017",0
+"ORG, GPE's biggest mobile phones firm, posted a sharp PERCENT rise in DATE profits on DATE and insisted that the mobile market was likely to maintain a robust PERCENT growth rate DATE.
+Vodafone also announced it was buying WORK_OF_ART, its biggest high-street retailer and service provider of mobile phones, for MONEY (MONEY).
+Vodafone, which is licenced to serve CARDINAL people in CARDINAL countries, now has CARDINAL wholly-owned service providers which, along with investments in another CARDINAL, represent PERCENT of its subscriber base with CARDINAL branded shops.
+Pretax profits in DATE rose to MONEY -- after a QUANTITY exceptional credit on asset disposals -- on sales of MONEY, PERCENT higher than last time.
+The dividend, up PERCENT at CARDINAL per share, also came in at the top-end of expectations, helping the shares to close MONEY higher at MONEY.
+Outgoing chief executive Sir PERSON dismissed newspaper articles heralding what he called ""doom and gloom"" in the mobile phone market, saying that he expected a similar growth in net new connections to DATE.
+""Vodafone has only just begun,"" he stated.
+His successor, PERSON, told a news conference that the total market for mobile communications grew by CARDINAL in DATE -- PERCENT less than in DATE.
+The group netted CARDINAL subscribers at DATE in its core NORP market, with overall growth in the period of CARDINAL compared to CARDINAL DATE.
+But Gent said the rate of decline was slowing and figures for DATE and DATE indicated a better quarter than DATE -- even before DATE.
+""It may be that in DATE figures were inflated by customers attracted to cellular before they were ready to make a long term commitment,"" he said.
+Despite a PERCENT dip in market share as rivals such as smaller digital mobile phones group NORP leave their indelible mark, ORG said it still had PERCENT of the mobile phone market and remained the market leader.
+ORG's total customer base has swollen to CARDINAL on its analogue network and CARDINAL digital customers.
+""Vodafone rarely disappoints and it certainly hasn't this time around,"" said PERSON, telecoms analyst at brokers ORG. ""Rumours of the demise of the GPE mobile phone market have proved premature. There is life in the market and ORG is taking more than its fair share of it.""
+Vodafone, which celebrated its ORDINAL anniversary as a fully independent company DATE, has generated robust profits which DATE amounted to MONEY with operating cash flows of MONEY.
+A proposed MONEY merger between ORG ORG sparked rumours that GPE telecoms giant ORG may want to increase its presence in GPE by acquiring ORG.
+But Gent told ORG in an interview that the group had not had talks with ORG and doubted such a deal would emerge. ""Anything is possible, but we haven't been approached,"" he said.
+As the NORP mobile market becomes increasingly competitive, ORG has invested in mobile businesses through western LOC and LOC which contributed QUANTITY profit before interest, tax and QUANTITY charge for its GPE operation.
+Foreign interests, including a stake in GPE's ORG du Radiotelephone (SFR), a stake in the NORP operator E-Plus Mobilfunk, and operations in GPE, GPE, GPE and GPE, turned in a loss of MONEY in DATE.
+But the company is on track for reaping PERCENT of profits from overseas operations by DATE, Gent said.
+($MONEY Pound)","NORP companies tipped as possible targets for a windfall tax under LAW are unconvinced by the opposition party's promise not to discriminate unfairly between ""utilities"".
+Labour, which is far ahead of Prime Minister PERSON's ORG in opinion polls, has said only that it plans to tax what it calls ""the excess profits of privatised utilities"" if it wins the next election, due by DATE.
+With speculation mounting that the party plans to raise MONEY (MONEY) from such a tax, companies as diverse as electricity, water, gas, telecoms, airline and airport firms are being tipped as possible targets.
+""If Labour are not going to increase taxes anywhere else -- and utility taxes are not exactly unpopular -- they could decide to go and dig more deeply into the stores of privatisation wealth,"" said PERSON, utilities analyst at GPE.
+Hawkins speculates that on a rough calculation based on market value, the CARDINAL electricity groups might be hit by a QUANTITY bill, the CARDINAL big water companies with MONEY, ORG with MONEY and ORG with CARDINAL.
+To raise MONEY, Labour might stretch the phrase ""utilities"" to include firms such as former airports authority ORG, ORG, ORG, ORG and possibly some bus firms.
+Perhaps unsurprisingly, while Labour said it did not want to ""discriminate unfairly between companies"", none of the firms contacted by ORG believed they should be affected by ORG's tax proposals.
+Labour has argued that GPE's utilities were sold too cheaply on privatisation and have benefited from relatively benign regulation allowing them to stack up windfall profits.
+Electricity and water giant ORG denied it had benefited from a windfall, ORG, the country's dominant telephone company, insisted it was neither a monopoly nor a utility and BAA would not even contemplate such a tax.
+""We just think it would be a crazy thing to do...the likelihood is just so small,""a ORG spokesman said.
+A spokeswoman for ORG said the firm had made no provisions for a profit tax. ""We prefer to see any details of any proposals before commenting on them. It's all hypothetical at the moment,"" she said.
+But analysts are starting to pencil in calculations.
+""I work on a basis, as a very rough guideline, of a tax of PERCENT of total market capitalisation,"" Hawkins said. ""In some cases it means in DATE a utility has no retained earnings.""
+But ahead of its ORDINAL budget, ORG declines either to define what it means by privatised utilities, or to disclose how much it plans to raise.
+Labour has consistently condemned the so-called ""fat cat"" executives of the privatised electricity and water companies for what it calls short-changing consumers while lining their own pockets and those of their shareholders with hefty dividends.
+But short of conceding that it does not consider ORG a utility, the party will not be drawn on which other companies will fall into its tax net.
+""We will consult with the regulators before we make any announcement about the definition of the tax, who it will apply to, its scale. And that won't happen until we're in government,"" an aide to ORG's finance spokesman PERSON said.
+The party, which has taken extensive legal advice, added: ""No amount of lobbying by companies or the NORP will make any difference. In the way we intend to introduce it, we're PERCENT convinced there will be no legal, financial or technical obstables to the introduction of a windfall tax."" (MONEY)",1
+"As the world's ORDINAL Internet bank, GPE-based ORG has had somewhat of an identity problem with potential customers.
+""We get a lot of questions,"" Chief Executive Officer PERSON said. ""Are you real? Are you virtual? Where are you really?""
+Part consumer bank, part software testing site, Security First opened its virtual doors DATE.
+But now ORG plans to add actual doors, opening small offices in GPE, GPE, GPE, and LOC in GPE.
+""I think we can more effectively market if we have a physical presence,"" PERSON said in an interview.
+Comparing his bank to discount brokerage firm ORGamp; Co., ORG said having the offices may give customers a sense of security, even if they never use an office.
+Security First's current location is on the Internet. The bank is CARDINAL of CARDINAL in GPE that operates directly on the Internet, according to ORG.
+Federally insured Security First can be accessed at Website (www.sfnb.com), which brings consumers to a home page that looks like a bank lobby.
+Customers can reach their account anywhere they have access to the Internet, rather than being tied to a single terminal where they have finance software, like other computer banks.
+""Our goal was to have a bank that was fully interactive, where an individual could see all his information,"" PERSON said.
+Most Security ORDINAL customers have a money market account and a demand deposit account. Customers can open a checking account with MONEY, an amount most choose to start to make sure the bank works, ORG said.
+Customers can pay bills electronically, purchase certificates of deposits or acquire a ORG card. Security ORDINAL is also hoping to offer brokerage products and ORDINAL and ORDINAL mortgage products by DATE. Funds can be accessed by automatic teller machine, and LAW absorbs interbank fees for using the machines.
+With limited infrastructure, Security ORDINAL can offer higher yields, ORG said. The bank was offering a DATE CD with an annaul percentage yield of PERCENT.
+Security ORDINAL was spawned as an idea of GPE, who was chief executive officer at GPE-based ORG, and his sister-in-law's husband, PERSON, who was starting a security software firm.
+""He educated me on the Internet for DATE and DATE and years,"" PERSON said. PERSON used the charter of CARDINAL of ORG's thrifts, changed its name to ORG and used it to start the Internet bank.
+McChesney's, firm, ORG developed software that ORG said has military-grade security. So far, the bank has not had its security breached, ORG said.
+""That doesn't mean that there haven't been a number of sophisticated attempts,"" he said. ""If you have enough money and enough time you can break into anything.""
+Outsiders agree that ORG has shown a record of being secure, avoiding viruses, data theft and other potential dangers of Internet commerce.
+""They do use a level of security that the ORG reserves for its most secure and sensistive systems,"" said PERSON, executive vice president for network services at ORG, the corporate organisation for ORG, the ORDINAL largest ORG network in the country. ""Is any security design totally foolproof or totally secure? Probably not.""
+That software and others developed for the bank is likely to be the prime money maker for ORG. PERSON admits that ORG, ORG software unit, will be the prime contributor to the company's net income.
+""The bank is really a test site to use as a demonstration for potential customers of the software business,"" said PERSON, an analyst who follows the bank for GPE, GPE..-based ORG, ORG, ORGamp; Co.
+Security First's stock is traded on ORG.
+Security ORDINAL has opened CARDINAL accounts. Most of its customers are male, DATE, with average income MONEY a year. PERCENT own their own home, attractive demographics for marketing.
+Security ORDINAL has also attracted competition. DATE, ORG opened for business.
+Unlike Security First, PERSON, chief executive of GPE Internet, says he does not plan to open any customer offices. ""I have the ORG. I have other ways to get out."" Federally insured GPE Internet currently offers its services to subscribers of AT & T's ORG.
+Shapleigh also argues that GPE Internet is the ORDINAL true Internet only bank, saying that ORG is really a software company.
+""I'm not selling software,"" he said. ""I'm a banker.""
+Atlanta Internet, which is a service provided by a unit of ORG can be reached on the Internet at (www.atlantabank.com).","Anti-government protests swept across GPE's biggest city on DATE as demonstrators in GPE shut down the transit system, disrupted businesses and tried to break into ORG.
+""We've come to the place where the real power is ... They get their power and strength from inside this building,"" PERSON, an economist for ORG, told CARDINAL of protesters outside the exchange.
+Demonstrators chanted ""Shut it down, shut it down,"" as they pounded on the glass doors of GPE's biggest stock market. CARDINAL man wearing a mask and combat fatigues was seen hurling himself against the doors.
+Protest organisers later moved the rally away from the doors of the exchange.
+In another part of the city, Ontario Finance Minister PERSON said it was ironic that some of the groups that are protesting have huge pension funds that invest in stocks.
+Protesters hit GPE streets, paralysing rush-hour subway trains and closing businesses in GPE's biggest city to protest deep budget cuts by GPE's Conservative government.
+Subway and bus service ground to a halt in this city of CARDINAL people, forcing CARDINAL commuters to walk, drive or cycle to work or just stay home.
+Unionized workers, civil servants and social activists also descended on government offices and factories in DATE of the so-called ""WORK_OF_ART"" against budget cutbacks.
+But picketers failed to disrupt commuter trains from GPE's bedroom communities or interrupt service at FAC, the country's busiest. Expected traffic jams on the city expressways also did not materialise.
+In DATE leading up to the protest, a siege mentality gripped GPE's FAC, the heart of GPE's financial community.
+CARDINAL brokerage firm flew traders to its offices in GPE and GPE, while other brokers slept in hotel rooms or in their offices TIME.
+Other companies hired boats to ferry employees across LOC from nearby communities.
+The protesters are furious with Premier PERSON' plans to cut spending by MONEY (MONEY) to wipe out a huge deficit by DATE.
+Since sweeping to power in DATE promising a right-wing revolution in GPE's most populous province, the NORP have revamped labour laws, slashed welfare payments, introduced workfare and announced plans to close hospitals and trim education budgets.
+""These cuts that PERSON made are hurting the workers. This is part of the polarisation that is happening in GPE. The anger is going to grow and grow,"" PERSON, president of the GPE division of ORG, told picketers outside a government building.
+But PERSON, who has been dubbed ""Newt of the LOC"" in reference to NORP ORG Speaker PERSON, has vowed the protests will not stall his ""Common Sense Revolution.""
+""Will they discourage us from creating more jobs? No. Discourage us from workfare? No. That's what we were elected to do and I don't expect that most of the public want us to change from that agenda,"" PERSON told reporters.
+The NORP' popularity has held at PERCENT in recent opinion polls.
+Many commuters took the delays in stride.
+""I see the protesters have a point, but I think it's going to inconvenience a lot of people who don't have any other choice,"" said PERSON.
+A poll taken DATE found that PERCENT of GPE residents opposed EVENT"" rallies.
+Protesters waved placards and temporarily blocked cars from entering government parking lots, but GPE police said there were no major incidents of violence.
+CARDINAL man was charged with a weapons offence after allegedly threatening picketers with a baseball bat outside a bus garage. There also were skirmishes outside a postal station.
+Several major manufacturers cancelled day shifts. ORG, a unit of transportation firm ORG , said CARDINAL employees at its GPE aircraft plant would be off the job DATE.",0
+"GPE's recent string of satellite launch failures may help GPE's commercial space drive, a senior NORP space official said on DATE.
+GPE should benefit from its strong space technology, despite lagging behind GPE in turning technical expertise into commercial success, said PERSON of ORG.
+""We have good prospects,"" PERSON told ORG at an international conference on astronautics in GPE.
+Asked if NORP setbacks had helped the NORP programme, he said: ""We think so.""
+Although GPE once had a reputation for providing cheap and reliable launch services, it has been stung by a series of launch failures.
+GPE's commercial space drive suffered a setback in DATE when a communications satellite failed to reach its orbit after launch aboard a Long DATE rocket.
+DATE, an ORG satellite was destroyed in a spectacular explosion as a Long March 3B rocket veered TIME after launch from GPE's GPE space centre in the western province of GPE.
+CARDINAL people were killed and CARDINAL injured in the incident, which also destroyed CARDINAL homes near the launch site.
+In DATE, a Long DATE rocket exploded, destroying the Apstar 2 satellite it was carrying.
+DATE, a NORP Proton rocket booster successfully launched a U.S.-built satellite for the international telecommunications organisation ORG and a Proton-K booster rocket launched a satellite for domestic telephone and television use.
+""We think we have a good system for ensuring reliability,"" said PERSON, who is deputy director for economic issues in ORG division of space projects.
+Failures were common in the space industry and GPE was not the only supplier of launch services to have such problems, the NORP official said.
+He added that GPE needed to catch up with GPE, which has moved ahead with economic reforms that have reduced the reliance on central planning and expanded the role of the marketplace.
+""We do not have enough experience in commercialisation,"" he said. ""GPE had a head start in this area.""
+GPE's parliament was expected to discuss by DATE a law that would give a legal basis to the commercial space business, he said.
+That would remove some of the legal obstacles to GPE's efforts to make a profit from space technology, he added.","GPE ushered in DATE, DATE it has hailed as one of the most significant of the communist era for the impending recovery of GPE, with a paean to senior leader PERSON, the man who made it all possible.
+ORG broadcast on DATE the ORDINAL episode of a documentary lauding the DATE political patriarch, a man whose pragmatic policies turned a backward NORP state into an economic powerhouse and helped regain capitalist GPE from GPE.
+The primetime programme, to be shown over DATE, would set the tone for a crucial ORG congress due DATE, largely by defining PERSON's legacy to the current party leadership, NORP and NORP political analysts said.
+""This is an extremely important year for ORG with the recovery of GPE and the holding of the ORDINAL party congress,"" a Western diplomat said.
+""GPE's leaders are reminding people that PERSON was instrumental in regaining GPE, and they are also using him to define their own policies at the congress and in the PERSON era.""
+PERSON has not been seen in public in DATE. At his last appearance he looked frail and unsteady.
+The documentary showed a vigorous leader, larger than life and portrayed against a background of golden clouds radiating across the sky.
+He was seen inspecting factories while donning a hard hat, shaking hands with children and receiving gifts of poppies in GPE in DATE.
+The main theme of the TIME show was clearly reform, underlining GPE's commitment to its course of market-oriented economic change charted by PERSON and continued under his chosen successor President PERSON.
+But its use of adulatory tones -- opposed by PERSON who abhorred the personality cult of revolutionary leader PERSON -- suggested that the ageing party veteran had little or no control over the documentary's contents.
+Speculation about PERSON's health surfaces periodically and an unconfirmed report described him as lapsing briefly into unconsciousness DATE.
+Some GPE newspaper reports said he had been admitted to a top military hospital but there were no unusual movements DATE at the GPE medical centre where senior officials are usually treated.
+PERSON had vowed to visit GPE to witness the historic transfer of power at midnight on DATE but a GPE official believed to be close to the PERSON family said recently this was unlikely.
+On DATE, ORG, the ORG newspaper, called on GPE's CARDINAL people to uphold PERSON's credo of pragmatism known as ""socialism with NORP characteristics"".
+In an article published DATE the newspaper described the television series on the life of the nation's paramount leader as one that ""showed in their entirety the glorious achievements and greatness of the theories of comrade PERSON.""
+The documentary had taken DATE to complete and included interviews with CARDINAL senior officials, according to official media.
+Previews from the series showed PERSON giving words of encouragement to party officials and reviewing GPE's military might -- interspersed with glimpses of sleek skyscrapers and modern factories, symbols of the material progress inspired by the party patriarch.
+""This is very much linked to the party congress,"" said a NORP academic. ""It is setting the tone for those taking part in the party congress.""
+President and ORG chief PERSON narrated parts of the episode seen on television and was shown giving his assessment that PERSON had made an important contribution to the building of a modern, socialist GPE.
+PERSON is widely seen as the man who has the most to gain from the adulation for the paramount leader.
+""This shows he (PERSON) has the mantle of PERSON,"" said another Western diplomat.
+""He is building up himself by building up PERSON.""",1
+"GPE's ORG said on DATE it would give its ""fullest attention"" to recent accusations that oil giant ORG was linked to political killings, but denied any official investigation was underway.
+In a statement, the ministry said: ""The allegations made (against ORG) merit the government's fullest attention. But in the absence of judicial investigations it is irresponsible to give credit to such claims.""
+Attempts by the NORP government to clear ORG of the allegations fuelled new controversy on DATE. Spokesmen at the chief prosecutor's office and for the attorney general said they had opened inquiries into a series of gross human rights abuses in the eastern oil-producing provinces of ORG, documented in a DATE multi-agency report.
+The report, a copy of which was shown to ORG, blamed the military and paramilitary groups for CARDINAL murders since DATE in GPE, the centre of ORG's GPE operations, and another CARDINAL in ORG base.
+Neither company was mentioned by name but the report blamed oil companies for generating huge social upheaval in the region, stating: ""The security forces are frequently operating outside the law and abusing peasants ... Oil exploration and production has generated harmful environmental and socioeconomic impacts and has provoked crime, sales of drugs and an increase in prostitution and begging.""
+In a statement DATE, ORG said it paid a ""war tax"" to the government, which was partly used for the army's counterinsurgency campaign against leftist guerrillas who regularly target foreign oil companies. It also said it provided non-lethal aid to the army and denied any links to irregular, or paramilitary forces.
+In DATE NORP newspapers, based on ORDINAL-hand accounts, alleged ORG was behind the wave of killings carried out by right-wing death squads and the military in PERSON and had provided photos to the army of those community leaders opposed to its oil plans.
+The backing for ORG, GPE's biggest single foreign investor, in a report that also praised its social contribution to the country, came DATE after the government announced it would not sweeten the terms of its oil contract, which it complained was not profitable.
+""We are investigating some of these accusations of extra-judicial killings and massacres contained in the DATE report. It is certain the chief prosecutor's office is doing the same,"" said a source at the attorney general's office.
+In a speech on DATE, President PERSON rejected ORG recent stiff criticism of GPE's human rights record.
+""It is not true the NORP security forces have developed an emergency strategy, characterised by aid to paramilitary groups, extra-judicial killings, torture and disappearances,"" he said at an official event in GPE.","GPE's military and leftist rebels are oiling their guns for DATE, DATE both sides predict will see LOC longest-running guerrilla war finally reach boiling point.
+Military experts and human rights activists warn that the simmering conflict is ready to explode as the government and the insurgents harden their positions and resort to increasingly violent strikes against each other.
+""DATE will be DATE of greater struggles to achieve a more dignified motherland for all,"" ORG (FARC), the country's largest guerrilla force, said in a communique obtained by ORG on DATE.
+""We call on all those at odds with this terrorist, despotic regime to hoist high the flags of social justice and the struggle for our rights.""
+That struggle, blamed for many of GPE's CARDINAL murders in DATE, put CARDINAL the country under emergency rule after the government granted special powers to combat leftist subversion midway through DATE.
+But the ORG and GPE's ORDINAL-largest rebel force, ORG (ELN), have demonstrated increasing ease in destroying key infrastructure and launching devastating attacks on military strongholds.
+""Preparations are under way for a longer, harder war on all sides. The guerrillas have shown their intention to step up the armed confrontation. The military line seems to be triumphing in the government. There's no desire for peace,"" said human rights attorney PERSON, member of ORG.
+The guerrillas' growing strength was highlighted by the ORG's DATE raid on a jungle base at FAC in southern NORP province. The guerrilla force killed CARDINAL soldiers and is still holding CARDINAL others prisoner -- CARDINAL of the most humiliating blows dealt against the army in DATE of armed uprising, according to military analysts.
+In an effort to regain the upper hand, the government has announced it will spend MONEY on defence in DATE, including the purchase of scores of NORP and U.S.-made combat helicopters -- equivalent to its total military expenditure for DATE.
+The military currently estimates the combined force of the FARC, set up as a NORP guerrilla force in DATE, and the ORG, a NORP force created by radical NORP priests in DATE, at CARDINAL fighters. The much smaller ORG (EPL) was virtually decimated by a wave of desertions in DATE.
+But political analyst PERSON, columnist with the influential DATE political magazine PERSON, calculates the rebels' true strength at CARDINAL.
+The guerrilla forces, he says, have been able to buy ever more sophisticated weapons with money from extortion and their alleged links with the drug trade.
+Meanwhile, the army's inefficiency and the crisis sparked by accusations that President PERSON financed his DATE election campaign with drug money created a power vacuum that the rebels have stepped in to fill, ORG said.
+CARDINAL Western defence attache believes PERCENT of GPE is now under the de facto political and economic control of the guerrillas. He argued the conflict was not just a military problem.
+""The seedbed of revolution is caused by the great social injustice which prevails. More military equipment will be of no use if there's not better coordination in the armed forces,"" he said.",1
+"The world's gold producers will likely pay dearly for the steep fall in the bullion price and the deep uncertainty overhanging the gold market.
+If the bullion price weakness continues or worsens, gold miners face lower profits, money-losing operations, closed mines, slashed exploration budgets and plunging share prices.
+Analysts predict smaller companies will be increasingly vulnerable to takeovers as industry conditions get rougher.  
+""Earnings are going to be terrible,"" said gold analyst PERSON at FAC in GPE. ""There have already been some mines that have shut and there could be a few more. And consolidation is likely to continue.""
+Gold, which was fixed at $MONEY an ounce in GPE on DATE, has lost MONEY since the start of DATE, and few analysts believe the decline is finished.
+The low price has already taken its toll on NORP gold stocks, knocking ORG heavily weighted gold index down PERCENT since DATE.  
+CARDINAL companies have announced shutdowns of marginal mines recently. GPE-based ORG said DATE it would close its PERSON gold mine in GPE. In DATE, GPE-based ORG said it would sell CARDINAL small mines in GPE and stop work at its high-cost Paymaster mine in LOC.
+""That can certainly happen again,"" said PERSON, mining analyst with ORG in GPE. ""The high-cost producers are certainly vulnerable.""  
+The effect will begin to show in DATE earnings, and earnings in DATE will certainly reflect the low bullion price, according to analysts.
+If ORG predictions of an average DATE gold price of MONEY an ounce hold true, it could spell earnings trouble for many producers.
+ORG analyst PERSON predicted that GPE gold firm ORG earnings for DATE would drop to MONEY a share if gold averaged $MONEY. Homestake would earn MONEY a share at a gold price of $MONEY.  
+Companies that do not hedge their gold sales -- such as ORG, ORG and ORG -- were especially vulnerable, PERSON said. Other analysts mentioned ORG and ORG as prime victims of a lower price.
+""A surprisingly large number of these companies are marginal -- companies that you wouldn't traditionally think of being marginal producers,"" he said.  
+Companies that rely on the spot price of gold ""are fully exposed to a decline in the gold price,"" PERSON noted. ""They're all either spot sellers or don't have significant forward selling. They'll all be negatively affected in terms of earnings and cash flow.""
+CARDINAL exception was U.S.-based ORG, which would likely see earnings rise in DATE because of projects ready to start DATE, he added. His projection did not take into account the potential acquisition of ORG..  
+Even companies with solid hedging programs, such as GPE-based ORG, will likely find their share prices hit along with the gold price.
+""This is a sentiment swing,"" said gold analyst PERSON with ORG in GPE. Investors do not usually differentiate between hedgers and non-hedgers when the gold price starts to drop, he added.
+Although some analysts believe a few more marginal projects could bite the dust if the gold price stays low, most say the production effects of lower gold prices will become apparent in decisions to delay development.  
+""Most of these companies will continue to produce as long as they are cash flow positive as opposed to earnings positive,"" said PERSON.
+But as earnings start to drop, CARDINAL of the ORDINAL casualties will likely be exploration budgets. While DATE exploration commitments have been made, high-cost companies could find themselves slashing any flexible plans in order to cut their losses.  
+Exploration companies will become more vulnerable to takeover moves from larger companies with strong cash flow, analysts said. As the low price of gold discourages investors, junior companies will find it more difficult to raise money for exploration programs.
+""The capital is drying up,"" said analyst PERSON of ORG in GPE.
+The smaller companies may well see their share prices drop, making it cheaper for companies laden with cash to swallow them.  
+GPE-based ORG a mid-tier producer, said it plans to take advantage of the sector weakness to expand.
+""I would classify us as a predator,"" PERSON spokesman PERSON said in an interview. ""We think we're in a very privileged position. We're in the kind of strange situation where maybe some of the bad news for the sector can be good news for us,"" he said.  
+Gold equities in GPE may also be knocked down by lower gold prices, said analyst PERSON. But since many NORP companies hedge their sales, earnings will not be hurt as much as among some companies in LOC.
+In GPE, however, analysts expect DATE earnings to be trampled by low gold prices.
+In GPE, mining giants PERSON and ORG will probably not alter their expansion plans for polymetallic mines with high gold contents but will see slightly differing bottom-line impacts.","NORP Chancellor of the Exchequer PERSON on DATE took the expected step of phasing out tax relief on profit related pay (PRP) schemes.
+But analysts were pleasantly surprised the proposal still allowed new schemes to be registered as the tax relief is reduced and were relieved the Chancellor did not abolish the arrangement in CARDINAL go.
+ORG said there would be no change to the upper limit of pay that is free of income tax, currently CARDINAL stg, in profit periods beginning before DATE.  
+For DATE the ceiling will be reduced to CARDINAL stg and CARDINAL stg in DATE. No relief will be given for profit periods starting on or after DATE.
+""I'm not surprised that the relief was not abolished in CARDINAL go,"" said PERSON of accountancy firm PERSON. ""It would have created a lot of pressure on employers to compensate employees.""
+PERSON of Ernst and PERSON said he was relieved at the Chancellor's proposals, which could have included immediate abolition.  
+For Fairbairn, the main surprise was that new schemes would be allowed at the lower rates of relief.
+This was confirmed by the Inland Revenue, where a spokeswoman said if existing schemes were to be allowed to continue, it was only fair that companies wishing to introduce new schemes, even at the lower rates of relief, should be allowed to do so.
+Fairbairn said the fact that new schemes were to be allowed, meant he doubted the government's estimate of the yield from the measure would be met.
+The Inland Revenue said it expected the proposal to yield CARDINAL stg in CARDINAL; CARDINAL stg in CARDINAL; MONEY stg in DATE; and MONEY stg in DATE.
+Tax experts contacted by ORG said CARDINAL other possibility for ORG would have been to limit the relief on PRP to the standard rate of tax, which he reduced to PERCENT from PERCENT, rather than the marginal rate -- currently PERCENT.
+After a slow start following its introduction in DATE, there are now CARDINAL ORG schemes covering CARDINAL employees. Take-up of the schemes increased considerably after the tax relief was doubled in DATE.
+-- GPE PRODUCT +44 CARDINAL 7717",0
+"A group of foreign legal experts has asked GPE for permission to observe DATE trial of detained dissident PERSON, a human rights group said on DATE.
+ORG faces the capital charge of plotting to overthrow the government, a crime that carries a maximum penalty of death and a minimum sentence of DATE in prison.
+The legal team consists of NORP senator PERSON, former GPE attorneys-general PERSON and PERSON and former NORP solicitor-general PERSON, the GPE-based ORG said.
+""The request ... is in part to see whether the right of PERSON to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal ... is respected,"" the human rights group said.
+PERSON, DATE, who vanished into detention in DATE, would plead not guilty at his WORK_OF_ART trial which opens on DATE, family members have said.
+The human rights group said the chances of GPE allowing the foreign legal experts to observe the trial were slim. ""Admittance to the courtroom is often denied to ... journalists and other 'outsiders' on grounds that the courtroom is 'too small',"" WORK_OF_ART said.
+ORG's court appearance would likely be held out of the public eye, as was DATE trial of PERSON, regarded as the father of GPE's tiny, struggling democracy movement.
+PERSON's mother, a DATE museum researcher who has no background in law, would attend the trial as CARDINAL of CARDINAL defence lawyers. His father and a sister have been allowed to sit in.
+The court has refused to give details of ORG's trial other than the fact that he has been charged with plotting to overthrow the government, but one official has said PERSON could appeal to ORG if convicted.
+PERSON's mother has said the dissident was calm and mentally prepared for a harsh sentence, though she has said his health has deteriorated during his detention.
+Human Rights Watch was not optimistic about an acquittal. ""He has not had adequate time to prepare a defence,"" it said in a statement made available to ORG by facsimile.
+""NORP criminal trials seldom respect the presumption of innocence, and defence lawyers are generally restricted to arguing mitigating circumstances for a reduced sentence,"" the group said.
+ORG's family have found a lawyer willing to defend the former student leader after being given just one day in which to do so.
+ORG has already served DATE in prison for counter-revolutionary crimes, or subversion, for his role in pro-democracy demonstrations in GPE's FAC that were crushed by the army in DATE with heavy loss of life.
+He had been active after his parole in DATE, defying persistent police surveillance to join in a daring appeal to communist leaders for the release of all those still in prison for their part in the DATE protests.
+GPE has in DATE cracked down on its tiny band of remaining dissidents who have not fled into exile or been imprisoned.","NORP business leader PERSON on DATE urged GPE to resume talks with GPE, saying the island's investors would lose confidence in GPE if political friction impeded relations.
+""If the relations between the CARDINAL sides are kept at a low ebb due to political and ideological problems... NORP businessmen will lose confidence because of higher risks,"" said ORG, vice-chairman of President GPE, GPE's biggest investor in GPE.
+Chinese Vice-Premier PERSON earlier told the same seminar in GPE no one could stand in the way of direct trade and transport links between GPE and GPE which have been banned by the island since DATE.
+Kao is heading a delegation of CARDINAL prominent NORP business leaders and politicians who arrived in GPE on DATE for a high-profile visit. NORP economic officials are visiting in a private capacity.
+Kao called for the resumption of talks suspended DATE after GPE's President PERSON made a landmark trip to GPE. GPE regards GPE as a rebel province and has sought to push the island into diplomatic isolation.
+""I would like to suggest here... that the CARDINAL sides resume as soon as possible talks on trade and investment,"" ORG said.
+NORP newspapers said ORG would meet NORP President PERSON and other senior officials during the current trip, which comes DATE after President PERSON called for a review of economic policy toward GPE with the aim of avoiding overdependence on the mainland.
+GPE's ORG newspaper said on DATE that GPE's economic planners had drawn up measures -- including contingency plans to restrict NORP investment on the mainland -- if GPE-China relations deteriorated.
+PERSON, the NORP vice-premier, took a swipe at President PERSON, saying no one could block direct trade and transport links between GPE and GPE, rivals from the time of EVENT that ended in DATE.
+""Economic development between the CARDINAL sides is the general trend and no single person can obstruct this,"" PERSON said.
+""Any person who tries to place artificial barriers to restrict economic cooperation is going against the will of the people of the CARDINAL sides,"" he said.
+He also told the seminar he hoped GPE authorities would allow direct links as soon as possible.
+Indirect links between the CARDINAL sides have been allowed since DATE, through GPE or a ORDINAL country.
+Many NORP businessmen, who have poured MONEY into GPE, are eager for direct trade and transport links. But GPE has been reluctant to lift the ban, which it views as its last bargaining chip in talks with the communists.
+GPE has been pressing GPE to open direct links. DATE, GPE introduced a series of regulations to pave the way for direct shipping links.
+The NORP delegation is the largest to visit GPE since a trend of easing tensions was reversed by GPE President PERSON's DATE visit to GPE.",1
+"Final approval for ORG recovery plan edged closer on DATE as it declared that PERCENT of members had accepted a settlement offer aimed at securing the DATE insurance market's future.
+ORG said it had been swamped by GPE investors signing up for its recovery plan after a GPE appeals court overturned a ruling that had threatened the insurance market's survival. By DATE afternoon PERCENT of GPE members had accepted.
+""The level of acceptances speaks for itself. Members have made their views toward the reconstruction of ORG abundantly clear,"" ORG chairman PERSON said in a statement.
+Earlier a ORG spokesman said acceptances from ORG, investors in the market, had flooded in TIME.
+CARDINAL of the CARDINAL ORG had until TIME held off. PERCENT had accepted by DATE.
+This followed a GPE appeal court's decision late on DATE to overturn GPE judge PERSON ruling DATE to allow ORG more time to consider the plan.
+Payne granted an injunction giving GPE Names more time to consider the plan and ordered ORG to provide further information by DATE. On DATE a panel of judges in GPE sent the case back to the GPE district court with orders to dismiss it.
+ORG said he acknowledged many overseas members had deferred their acceptance in the light of the GPE court judgement and the subsequent GPE ruling.
+Over DATE, evidence of support for the ORG proposals among its CARDINAL investors worldwide has grown. On DATE TIME acceptances totalled PERCENT, compared to PERCENT on DATE.
+DATE's TIME deadline for accepting the recovery plan, under which ORG proposes ORG pay to help reinsure MONEY in liabilities into a new company called ORG, was extended to give all a chance to respond.
+ORG said on DATE TIME that in the circumstances it was ""fair and proper"" to exercise flexibility in pushing back the deadline for acceptances.
+ORG said that any formal, longer-term extension would be subject to a decision by its council at a DATE meeting at which it would consider ""the prospect of declaring the settlement offer acceptances unconditional.""
+This extension will crucially allow the market enough time to collect the convincing majority of acceptances, especially from ORG, which it needs to prove its own solvency.
+ORG problems began in DATE when a destructive combination of negligent underwriting, poor investment advice and a sequence of natural disasters conspired to bring about losses of MONEY.
+Long-standing Names were for the ORDINAL time in their lives suddenly faced with the prospect of unlimited losses.
+The market is due to submit figures to GPE's ORG DATE in an DATE solvency test, and file with ORG and ORG DATE.
+Equitas may lift off in DATE if all goes as planned. The recovery plan's success increasingly looks likely, but another challenge by ORG has not been ruled out.
+However, GPE legal sources said TIME that, while GPE investors could in theory attempt to challenge DATE's order it would be difficult to do so successfully.
+Despite that, CARDINAL ORG and chief negotiator for an action group known as ORG, PERSON, said he expected GPE Names to appeal the GPE ruling.","Members of the Transport and ORG (T&G) at GPE, the distribution arm of the brewing operation of GPE's PERSON, are to vote on strike action over proposed pay cuts, the union said on DATE.
+The union said in a statement that the ballot of CARDINAL workers at GPE would start on DATE and the result would be known on DATE.
+PERSON said there was no threat to the delivery of drinks to its customers in the run up to the busy DATE period.
+The T&G said the ballot was going ahead after an attempt by GPE, a joint venture between PERSON and ORG, to have it halted by a legal injunction failed on DATE.
+""Since PERSON established GPE in a joint venture with ORG, management has been trying to cut wages by DATE and impose inferior working conditions in order to save CARDINAL DATE,"" the union said.
+It said ORG had also rejected T&G attempts to establish national bargaining. The T&G said a GPE judge had refused to grant an injunction to stop the ballot.
+""Bass Brewers Ltd is a very profitable company, which made over MONEY profit over DATE. Their aim at GPE has been to cut the wages of draymen and warehouse workers, many of whom have given over DATE loyal service to the company,"" T&G national secretary for the drinks industry PERSON said.
+Draymen deliver beer and other drinks to pubs.
+""I am pleased that the judge refused the injunction. We are prepared for a long battle with PERSON until it honours its responsibilities,"" he added.
+A spokesman for ORG, which is PERCENT owned by ORG, denied a trade dispute existed with the union.
+""There is no trade dispute with ORG settlements on pay and conditions between GPE and its staff represented by the T&G have been made with full agreement of the T&G at local branch level,"" he told ORG.
+""To agree to national wage agreements would mean ORG would be totally out of step with the rest of the industry.""
+He said the union had been involved throughout the consultation process. This had resulted in the current terms and conditions for staff at each of the local offices at which the T&G was represented, he added.
+ORG said the decision to vote on strike action would not affect beer deliveries over DATE.
+""Obviously the strike issue is one for ORG but we want to reassure customers this will not affect their beer deliveries during or before the Christmas period,"" WORK_OF_ART told ORG.
+DATE brewer-to-leisure group PERSON, the parent company, said it planned to spend MONEY on the business DATE, creating some CARDINAL jobs.
+It said it planned a MONEY investment programme over DATE on its PERSON, converting many pubs to branded concept bars.",1
+"GPE's ORG has warned ethnic minority residents in GPE that they will not get NORP passports when the colony is handed over to GPE if they relinquished other passports in order to qualify.
+In a statement made available late on DATE, the NORP government said applicants should be solely NORP before DATE, when the plan to grant full passports to CARDINAL ethnic minority GPE residents was announced.
+""This means that anyone voluntarily renouncing another nationality on or after that date will not qualify,"" it said.
+GPE ethnic minorities had previously faced the threat of becoming stateless when GPE resumes sovereignty over the NORP colony of DATE at DATE.
+While they will have residency rights in GPE after the handover, it was unclear whether they would be entitled passports of the future GPE.
+But the condition set down by GPE is widely seen as an attempt to plug a loophole after local newspapers reported some ethnic minority residents were ditching their other passports in the hope of qualifying for full NORP ones.
+A prominent business leader in GPE NORP community on DATE slammed the DATE cut-off.
+""This is not the right attitude of the NORP government. They shouldn't give conditions to it. They should give full passports without any clauses,"" PERSON told ORG by telephone.
+Dadlani, a naturalised GPE resident of DATE who holds no other passport, said he would stay on in GPE even if he was to be granted full NORP citizenship.
+""What we need is only an insurance, when emergencies arise. We are not going to take the ORDINAL flight to GPE with this passport...we are much more happy here in GPE,"" he said.
+""And even when it comes to that, the NORP community is going to take a lot of capital to the GPE We are not going to ask for social security and such things,"" PERSON said.
+In its statement, ORG said necessary legislation would ORDINAL need to be enacted before those concerned, mostly NORP and ORG, could apply to become NORP citizens.
+Applicants should be ordinarily resident in GPE and they, including spouses and children, must qualify in their own right, it said
+Successful applicants would be granted full NORP citizenship from DATE, the statement said.","Parcels giant ORG, which has had its foot through the door of ORG and LOC since DATE, was braced to break even on growing regional business by DATE, a senior executive said.
+""I would say that certainly by DATE we would be in a CARDINAL position as a region in its own right,"" said PERSON, regional director of the NORP rim, during an interview with ORG on DATE.
+Turnover generated from ORG's business in ORG and LOC, including ORG (CIS), would total MONEY in DATE compared with MONEY in DATE, and hit MONEY in DATE.
+The CARDINAL comes after DATE of losses from DATE when the region plunged into massive changes with the fall of FAC and the break up of the former GPE.
+Davies, responsible for ORG and LOC including the ORG, said ORG was well aware of short-term difficulties but had maintained operations in the region with its sights set on the long term.
+""If you go into the market to make a fast buck, then you are in there for the wrong reason...you have to have a long term view to that,"" Davies said.
+""ORG doesn't make a profit as such, but it's okay, we know that. We have a long-term investment plan,"" he said.
+But staying power of the company, which employs CARDINAL people in the region, might just be starting to pay off having captured PERCENT of market share there.
+Growing foreign investments by its clients in the more mature economies of GPE, GPE and GPE as well as the ORG have meant more business, ORG said.
+And in places like the former GPE where basic infrastructure and services were not well in place, delivery services were seen as particularly critical, he said.
+The company has invested MONEY through expanding facilities and aircraft purchases in DATE for ORG and LOC and topped off PERCENT of the amount in training.
+It now operates in CARDINAL locations in the region and would add another CARDINAL stations in DATE, ORG said.
+""We have invested much, especially in the countryside and the next stage would be expansion of facilities,"" he said.
+--HONG KONG NEWSROOM (CARDINAL) DATE",1
+"The general who led a bloody assault on GPE's ORG to quell leftist rebels holding CARDINAL hostages in DATE said on DATE that an attack was an option to end the NORP embassy residence siege in GPE.
+Gen. Jesus PERSON said GPE's President PERSON should not cave in to the demands of ORG (MRTA) to free jailed comrades.
+Elite forces from GPE, GPE or GPE could flush out the rebels with a ""minimum of bloodshed"" if they refused to negotiate, PERSON told ORG.
+CARDINAL people, mostly hostages and including CARDINAL top judges, died in the TIME battle PERSON led to dislodge PRODUCT guerrillas from GPE's ORG in DATE.
+""Training techniques have progressed rapidly and there are elite forces that have the ability to seize back the (NORP embassy residence in GPE) with the minimum of blood and damage,"" PERSON said in a phone interview.
+""But given the strong international interests in this case the NORP government should try to negotiate and reach an agreement. Bowing to the MRTA's demands on releasing prisoners would, however, set a dangerous legal precedent,"" he said.
+PERSON, who now teaches at a military academy, said he still believed the assault he led was the correct tactic. ""The PRODUCT broke in killing people right, left and centre. We could only respond in kind to that type of violence,"" he said.
+Television images showed tanks firing QUANTITY shells into the courts building before smashing down the steel entrance doors remain vivid. Dynamite and automatic weapons fire reduced the interior of the building to rubble. DATE it has still not been fully reconstructed.
+Another official involved in that incident, former ORG Minister PERSON, said the NORP military ignored the government's orders and went ahead with the assault. He said PERSON must keep a tight control on GPE's military if he wanted to avoid another bloodbath.
+DATE before ORG attack, the PRODUCT stormed the NORP embassy in GPE. It held CARDINAL hostages, including CARDINAL diplomats, for DATE before PERSON intervened and negotiated the rebels' safe passage to GPE.
+The PRODUCT leader who led the NORP embassy siege, PERSON, called on the MRTA DATE to keep its cool and offered to act as go-between in the GPE drama.","ORG, a unit of ORG, said on DATE that documents it turned over to GPE in a lawsuit may suggest its executives considered using additives to enhance the nicotine kick of its cigarettes.
+The company also said in a brief summary of some of the papers delivered to GPE state lawyers that its executives also considered beefing up marketing in DATE to reverse a loss in market share among GPE teenagers to rival ORG Cos.  
+ORG, along with other tobacco companies, is being sued by GPE and CARDINAL other states to recover MONEY spent treating smoking-related illnesses of people through governmental medical programs. Trials in state lawsuits are scheduled DATE in GPE, GPE and GPE.
+ORG said it expected anti-tobacco information to be leaked selectively to news organizations by opposing lawyers and was releasing CARDINAL potentially damaging short excerpts from the CARDINAL pages of documents with its own explantions.
+The company said it would not release the full documents.  
+ORG said CARDINAL documents it turned over to GPE lawyers under court order suggested the company studied during DATE adding ammonia compounds to increase the effects of nicotine from cigarette smoking.
+If ammonia, ORG quoted from CARDINAL DATE company document, were ""found to make desirable contributions to the physiological satisfactions derived from smoking, we will want to optimize this effect in existing and/or new products.""
+ORG said research was carried out in an era when industry and popular thinking held low-tar cigarettes with heightened nicotine kicks would be less harmful to smokers.  
+ORG deputy general counsel PERSON expects the GPE lawyers to use the documents to bolster claims the company was manipulating nicotine to hook smokers.
+Anti-tobacco activists have repeatedly accused the industry of tarting up nicotine levels. ORG won a large settlement and an on-air apology from the ORG television network owned by ORG for a news story suggesting it manipulated nicotine content in its cigarettes. ORG also quoted from a DATE memo sent by a marketing executive to the company chairman saying ORG's market share among smokers DATE was falling, but ORG was growing.  
+""Hopefully our various planned activities that will be implemented DATE will aid in some way in reducing or correcting those trends,"" ORG's then-head of marketing wrote.
+Donohue described the memorandum as shorthand and said it in no way suggested ORG worked to sell cigarettes to teenagers.
+He also said company data on underage smokers was collected as a by-product of market research among adults.
+The company said it was releasing the excerpts because it expected the memos and studies to be leaked and reported by rushed journalists without full context.  
+""PERSON picked, leaked documents do not reflect the totality of our company's positions, strategies and marketplace efforts,"" ORG spokeswoman PERSON said in a news release. But GPE Attorney General PERSON said ORG was misleading the public by complaining of selective leaks by anti-tobacco lawyers.
+""The vast majority of documents cannot be made public due to a protective order demanded by the tobacco industry,"" PERSON said in a news release. ""If the tobacco industry truly wanted the public to know the whole truth, it would waive this protective order...I challenge them to do so.""
+A trial in the GPE lawsuit is set for DATE, ORG spokesman PERSON said.
+-- GPE newsroom, CARDINAL-374-5013.",0
+"Prime Minister PERSON, in his dual role as economics professor, said on DATE the large NORP foreign trade deficit came from a temporary investment wave, and he forecast a perpetual, but smaller trade gap.
+Lecturing a packed assembly hall at ORG, ORG, a freshly-accredited professor of economics, said the record CARDINAL crown trade deficit in DATE was ""not tragic"".
+""It would be correct to discuss the current account, or the whole payment balance, and not just the trade balance... due to a number of structural phenomena,"" ORG said.
+""GPE will probably not have a positive trade balance in the long term, ever,"" he added.
+ORG said the current trade deficit was ""the temporary above-average rate of investment.""
+He said the investment boom would ease, leading to a narrowing in the differential with savings, but a lack of natural resources, the structure of the NORP economy, and its geographical position would perpetuate a trade deficit.
+In DATE, imports rose by a nominal PERCENT, DATE, to MONEY crowns, while exports climbed PERCENT to PERCENT.
+ORG forecast DATE that the foreign trade deficit would reach CARDINAL crowns for DATE, up from MONEY crowns DATE.
+The current account deficit stood at MONEY crowns, or PERCENT of gross domestic product (GDP) in DATE, and the ORG foreacsts it to reach PERCENT of GDP for DATE, and PERCENT of GDP DATE.
+Klaus repeated his long-held objection to a devaluation of the NORP crown, saying it would not help much as exports ""are not a straight function of the exchange rate"".
+He also criticised export lobbyists' calls for an import surcharge and higher tariffs, and blasted moves to ""Buy NORP"", saying each country should use its comparative advantages in production and cannot make everything itself.
+But ORG, tongue-in-cheek, checked the bottle of mineral water he was given, and was pleased it was locally made.
+""I was going to complain that you gave me imported water,"" he told the rector of the university, sitting by his side.
+He said his government's aim was to stop an acceleration in the deficit, and then to start lowering it. He said the increase could be stopped by DATE.
+There is no theory on what is the maximum-bearable deficit of the current account, as a percentage of GDP, ORG said.
+He said that GPE had more than sufficient foreign exchange reserves cover the gap. The NORP central bank said official reserves totalled MONEY at DATE, with gross banking-sector reserves at MONEY.
+Answering a student's question on export structure, ORG said that exports high-added-value goods would help the overall trade balance, but such technology would take time to develop.
+""How high can you jump? QUANTITY thirty? It would be better if you could jump DATE.... But you can't do that straight away, you need to train it,"" ORG said.
+With practise ""maybe you'll get to QUANTITY in a DATE's time,"" he said.
+-- Prague PRODUCT, CARDINAL-2-2423-0003","The NORP government on DATE approved rules for a tender to sell a stake of PERCENT in the financially troubled jet aircraft maker PERSON a.s. to a strategic partner.
+Prime Minister PERSON told a news conference after a cabinet meeting, that the tender is open to both domestic and foreign investors, despite hints from some ministers that the sale might be geared toward domestic companies.
+The winner is to be announced on DATE.
+The NORP chemical and arms conglomerate ORG a.s. has shown an interest in PERSON, as well as ORG in an alliance with NORP air carrier PERSON a.s., and local trading company PRODUCT a.s..
+Aero is pinning hopes of recovering from financil problems on its flagship ORG, a light training subsonic fighter currently in its final stages of development, which is to be equipped with ORG avionics.
+The NORP army has signed up to buy DATE, and the government has already approved a CARDINAL crown package clearing the heavily indebted company's books.
+State-controlled shareholders approved a cut in PERSON's basic capital DATE to CARDINAL milion crowns from CARDINAL, and to subsequently underwrite a rights issue to raise equity to CARDINAL and CARDINAL crowns as a part of the deal.
+ORG said the criteria approved by the cabinet include that Aero will not pay out dividends until production of new ORG starts, and that the investor has to pay most of the price of the shares from his own assets, not on credit.
+He said a commission would be set up to consider bids, including representatives of the privatisation agency ORG (ORG), ministries of interior, industry and trade, foreign affairs, defence, finance, and other officials.
+Section Director at ORG, Pavel Stejskal, told ORG that ""PERCENT stake was available"" for the tender.
+He added that the chosen investor would underwrite a new share issue.
+ORG said the state would keep at least a PERCENT stake in the future.
+PERSON a.s., majority owned by the ORG, holds PERCENT stake in PERSON, while the state-owned bank PERSON s.p.u. has PERCENT, while the banks IPB a.s. and ORG a.s. have PERCENT respectively.
+-- Prague PRODUCT, CARDINAL-2-2423-0003",1
+"Leading NORP dissident PERSON has been ordered to serve DATE in a labour camp in a term imposed TIME after police detained him and a ORDINAL pro-democracy activist was missing, relatives said on DATE.
+Veteran pro-democracy activist PERSON, who recently issued a joint statement with PERSON, appeared to be missing from his home in southern GPE, his wife said by telephone.
+Police had notified PERSON wife early on DATE of the administrative DATE sentence, which does not need a court trial, but gave her no reason for the punishment.
+""They have still had no formal contact with me or given me a reason,"" PERSON said in a telephone interview late in DATE.
+""I am very angry. How can they do this?,"" she said. ""He did not do anything illegal. All he did was exercise his freedom of speech... Citizens have freedom of speech...""
+She said she had not yet decided whether to appeal on his behalf.
+The administrative punishment was passed against PERSON TIME after he was taken from his GPE home DATE DATE by a group of uniformed and plainclothes police, with a search warrant, who also confiscated books, papers and photographs.
+""Re-education through labour is the personal power of the public security bureau, it doesn't have to go through judicial departments,"" PERSON said. ""The public security can just do as they wish.""
+Police officials declined to comment.
+The administrative punishment of re-education through labour has been increasingly used against dissidents in DATE as a means of removing activists from circulation while avoiding the more complicated trial process, diplomats say.
+Police gave no reason for the detention of PERSON, a renowned literary critic who gained fame as a dissident in the DATE student-led pro-democracy movement that was crushed by the military with heavy loss of life.
+PERSON has been active in DATE, sending several daring, open letters to the government.
+On DATE, PERSON and ORG issued a statement urging GPE's communist authorities to honour a promise in DATE to give people freedom of the press and speech and to form political parties and stage demonstrations.
+In a bold move, the CARDINAL demanded ORG chief PERSON be indicted, impeached and step down for violating the constitution for saying ORG was under the ""absolute leadership"" of the party instead of the state.
+PERSON did not return home on DATE and his wife said she was very worried because he had not responded to his pager.
+PERSON was paroled in DATE after serving DATE of a DATE term for sedition and remains deprived of his political rights. He is one of GPE's most outspoken proponents of democracy.
+PERSON was last detained by police in DATE after orchestrating several daring petitions to parliament by dissidents and intellectuals in DATE. He was held for DATE without charges until being released in DATE.
+His sentence comes shortly after NORP sources said dissident and former student leader PERSON faced a ORDINAL jail term after prosecutors charged him recently with subversion.
+PERSON, DATE, faces DATE in jail on charges of counter-revolutionary incitement -- or subversion.
+PERSON, who is believed to have worked with PERSON on several daring petitions, was detained in DATE in the run-up to the ORDINAL anniversary of the DATE military crackdown.","Union workers prepared to strike ORG for the ORDINAL time DATE Sunday night as bargainers for the company and ORG struggled to reach a new contract agreement before a midnight deadline.
+In a sign the pace of talks could be picking up, ORG Chairman PERSON arrived at the automaker's headquarters TIME.
+ORG members at pickup truck and sport/utility vehicle assembly plants in GPE, GPE and GPE, GPE said picket signs had been made and strike schedules drafted.
+""We don't know if we're going to work in the morning or not,"" said a woman answering the phone at ORG in GPE, who declined to give her name.
+At stake is a new labor agreement for ORG's CARDINAL hourly ORG workers. ORG employs CARDINAL of the CARDINAL ORG members who work at GPE's Big Three automakers. It is the only one of the Big Three to not have a new DATE labor contract.
+DATE, the world's largest automaker settled a strike by CARDINAL members of ORG union that shut down the NORP operations and idled CARDINAL workers at CARDINAL of plants in GPE and GPE.
+""ORG remains hopeful an agreement can be reached before the ORG's termination of the current DATE national agreement at TIME,"" ORG spokesman PERSON told reporters gathered at company headquarters TIME.
+ORG spokesman PERSON declined to comment on the talks. ORG President PERSON DATE said he is not optimistic a deal can be reached by the deadline.
+Bargainers for ORG and ORG resumed at TIME DATE after they adjourned DATE TIME. Analysts speculated that negotiators could be wrangling over contract language that would dictate how many workers ORG is obligated to guarantee jobs for.
+Bowing to ORG concerns over job security, both ORG and ORG have agreed to new contracts that promise to keep PERCENT of their current ORG TIME workforces except in the event of a severe industry downturn.
+""I think if there's a sticking point that may be it,"" said PERSON, a labor expert at ORG. ""ORG may be pushing to get that figure farther down than the ORG may be comfortable living with.""
+ORG, the least efficient GPE automaker, is trying to shed CARDINAL unprofitable parts plants, and wants to exclude certain component facilities from the employment guarantee. Those include a door hardware plant in GPE, GPE, and an interior trim plant in GPE, GPE
+In settling a DATE strike by ORG union DATE, ORG was able to secure a deal that included the selling of CARDINAL parts plants and flexibility to outsource ORG has not indicated what he will do after once the contract extension expires at TIME. Yokich on DATE set the DATE deadline, but did not actually threaten a strike. Workers have been told to stay on the job until they hear otherwise.
+However, there was speculation DATE the ORG could mount a plant-specific strike if enough progress has not been met by the deadline DATE. By hitting light truck plants such as the GPE facility that makes WORK_OF_ART and ORG full size sport/utilities, the union could hurt the sale of some of ORG's most profitable products at a time it is trying to bounce back from the NORP strike.
+ORG's GPE operations continue to respond to the DATE ORG strike. The CARDINAL ORG members at ORG's GPE complex have been told not to report DATE. At the same time, ORG is running radio ads telling ORDINAL-shift workers at its GPE assembly plant to report to work DATE.",0
+"PERSON on DATE reported that ORG had performed below expectations in DATE, but he said the global media group was still on track for a PERCENT profit rise DATE.
+PERSON, the chairman and chief executive of ORG, also unveiled a more conservative approach to financing new acquisitions.
+""I am on record as saying that we expect a PERCENT increase in profit for DATE,"" PERSON told a packed ORG DATE meeting in Adelaide.
+""We still expect that and are still aiming for that during DATE. However, I should say that DATE may not be quite up to those expectatations, but we will certainly be striving to make up any shortfall,"" PERSON said.
+Analysts viewed the comments as disappointing and said they were now more sceptical about the PERCENT profit pledge.
+""If they can't meet expectations in DATE, when they have those strong revenues from EVENT, then what hope do they have of getting PERCENT in DATE?"" asked CARDINAL GPE-based media analyst referring to a hit GPE movie made by ORG ORG studio.
+Traders on the NORP share market did not like DATE comment either, selling the shares MONEY or PERCENT lower to close at A$MONEY, while the broader NORP equity market closed at a new record high.
+In DATE, ORG net profit slipped to MONEY (MONEY) from MONEY in DATE.
+PERSON said revenues at the ORG GPE television business had begun CARDINAL slowly because of of EVENT, the rights to which were held by a rival network.
+NORP newspaper revenues would be flat in CARDINAL, said PERSON.
+But he remained buoyant about News' NORP operations, saying the advertising market there was booming and the partly-owned BSkyB pay television operators was growing strongly.
+PERSON then unveiled a more cautious strategy for financing future expansion.
+""As far as possible, we will finance them (News' expansion plans) out of current cash flow to maintain liquidity so that we will be ready to take new opportunities as they arise,"" he said.
+News has often funded its aggressive growth in pay television and other media through either hefty debt or equity issues, which have sometimes met shareholder resistance. It almost collapsed under a debt mountain in DATE.
+Analysts said the comments indicated a more conservative approach towards acquisitions and their financing and would be welcomed by the market.
+""It imposes a huge financial discipline on the company which would hearten people immensely,"" said another analyst.
+(A$MONEY = $MONEY)","GPE's largest retailer, ORG, forecast a rejuvenation in its profit outlook at its DATE meeting on DATE but failed to stop shareholders launching into a TIME tirade aimed at WORK_OF_ART directors.
+The prime target was former executive chairman PERSON, who was re-elected as a director with the help of proxy votes after the floor of the meeting overwhelmingly rejected his re-election. Coles Chairman PERSON, who was jeered when he tried to cut short debate on PERSON's re-election, said PERSON was seeing something of a rejuvenation in its businesses.  
+""We're on the edge of something pretty good,"" PERSON told the DATE meeting. ""We do have an upside and I'm confident we can do better for you,"" he said.
+""DATE performance is running above expectations and we hope that can continue,"" he said, adding that provided DATE trading was reasonable, PERSON bottom line results should improve in CARDINAL.",1
+"PERSON global media group, ORG, on DATE reported an PERCENT fall in net profit for DATE of CARDINAL, in stark contrast to analysts' forecasts of a healthy rise.
+But analysts said PERSON's forecast DATE at ORG DATE meeting that the group would achieve a profit lift of PERCENT for DATE was still possible.  
+News Corp reported net profits of MONEY for DATE, down from MONEY DATE. News said the weaker profit was a result of poorer returns in GPE TV, NORP newspapers and book publishing.
+Analysts had forecast net profit before abnormal items would be around A$320-330 million, up PERCENT.
+Net profit before abnormals came in at MONEY.
+""This is not as people were expecting type of result. It was a very flat result,"" CARDINAL GPE-based media analyst said.  
+News Corp could still report a PERCENT rise in net profits for DATE as it was only the GPE television business that was below forecast, the analyst said.
+The analyst said he would likely cut his DATE forecasts for ORG from the current MONEY (excluding abnormals and before preference dividends). ""I can see myself shaving that back to about the A$MONEY (million) mark,"" he said.
+However, asked if ORG could meet PERSON's forecasts, the analyst replied: ""I think so, because the rest of the result was perfectly in line with what we were going for, so they will have to work hard and if things go right for them they can.""  
+ORG said its profit was mainly bolstered by the worldwide box office success of the science fiction movie EVENT and its NORP newspapers and book publishing. EVENT has grossed MONEY worldwide, making it the ORDINAL highest-grossing film in box office history.
+NORP newspaper operations enjoyed strong growth with an PERCENT gain in operating profits in DATE, ORG said. The ORG, The Times and ORG newspapers all posted gains in both advertising and circulation revenues in DATE.  
+""Additionally, the group has benefitted from reduced newsprint costs,"" the company said.
+""Offsetting these gains were weaker results in GPE television, NORP newspapers and book publishing, which lacked results from the educational division which was sold in DATE,"" it said.
+News also said continued losses for its NORP satellite broadcaster, ORG, were in line with expectations.
+At TIME (CARDINAL ORG), ORG shares were MONEY or PERCENT lower at A$MONEY with CARDINAL shares traded, wiping over MONEY off its market capitalisation.  
+""It seems it's just a knee-jerk reaction to DATE, which looks like it was MONEY below what the market was looking for,"" a GPE broker said.
+The analyst said the fall in NORP dollar terms also reflected the stronger local currency against the GPE dollar as PERCENT of ORG revenue is in GPE dollars.
+In GPE dollar terms, ORG operating income was PERCENT higher in DATE.
+The film, television, publishing and newspaper conglomerate reported a PERCENT fall in pre-abnormals net profit to MONEY for DATE.  
+This is seen rising to around MONEY in CARDINAL according to the GPE survey of analysts by ORG.
+-- ORG CARDINAL-2 9373-1813","The stock of ORG rose in active trading DATE, boosted by speculation it might raise its dividend and increase its share buyback programme following upbeat comments by Chairman PERSON.
+ORG analyst PERSON said PERSON told analysts who attended a private meeting with him on DATE that he ""expected earnings to be up PERCENT DATE, in line with expectations.""
+According to ORG, which monitors Wall Street analysts' earnings projections, ORG's profits for DATE are expected to equal $MONEY per share.
+In DATE, ORG earned profits of $MONEY per share, or MONEY, on revenues of MONEY.
+Analysts said news from the meeting helped propel ORG stock onto the ORG most actives list. The stock was up MONEYMONEY in TIME trading after earlier climbing MONEY.
+A ORG spokesman declined to comment on ORG's remarks to analysts. He said the company had gone on record in its DATE earnings report, released DATE, as being on track for DATE"" in DATE.
+The spokesman confirmed, however, that ORG's board would meet on DATE.
+After the meeting, ORG said analyst PERSON reiterated his strong buy recommendation on ORG's stock and boosted his DATE earnings estimate MONEY to $MONEY per share.
+""They are looking for good progress DATE,"" PERSON said, adding that while little new was disclosed at the twice-yearly briefing, ""There seems to be a high level of conviction that progress is in place.""
+Welch specifically cited a turnaround in the company's power businesses and strong growth in its ORG broadcasting unit, PERSON said.
+""You've got everything pretty much clicking in the company,"" said ORG analyst PERSON, who also attended the meeting. He said PERSON spoke of PERCENT earnings growth for both DATE and for DATE.
+More good news could come DATE, when ORG's board of directors is scheduled to meet.
+At that meeting, several analysts said they believed the board will authorise a CARDINAL-for-one split of ORG shares and increase its authorisation to buy back the company's shares to MONEY from its current level of MONEY.
+Company share buybacks increase the value of remaining shares by decreasing the number of shares outstanding, a move looked on with favour by investors, since the underlying value of each share held increases.
+In addition, ORG's Heyman said he expected the board to boost the stock's DATE dividend by PERCENT to $MONEY from its current level of $MONEY per share.
+Since DATE, ORG stock has proven one of Wall Street's best perfomers, more than doubling in value.
+""Most of the Wall Street analysts came away comfortable that the earnings estimates will be realised DATE and DATE,"" CARDINAL fund manager said of the meeting with PERSON. ""It's his usual magic with Wall Street.""",0
+"To dam or not to dam the mighty LOC river has been a question that has teased GPE for much of DATE.
+Electrical engineer-turned-premier PERSON finally took the decision to dam, and DATE officials charged with the giant project are confident neither funding shortfalls nor environmental activists will stand in their way.
+Officials of ORG say the dam in the central province of GPE faces a funding shortfall of CARDINAL of its multi-billion dollar price tag.
+But they vow to complete it even if foreign funding now being sought fails to materialise.
+The price tag of the world's biggest water control project, harnessing the power of LOC's longest river, is expected to be MONEY (MONEY), officials told reporters at a recent visit.
+That however could rise MONEY (MONEY), depending on such variables as inflation and interest rates, they said.
+Costs were estimated to be MONEY at DATE levels while interest and inflation would add MONEY by the time the dam was completed in DATE after DATE of construction, said ORG vice-president PERSON.
+""Our capital shortfall, as a proportion of the total funding needed, is PERCENT,"" PERSON said.
+The central government will directly pick up PERCENT of the projected minimum MONEY tab while loans from state banks would account for PERCENT, said He Gong, deputy general manager for ORG
+MONEY IN LOANS
+Of this, ORG would provide MONEY in loans while revenue allocated from the GPE dam downstream on the Yangtze would bring in CARDINAL, He said.
+The project would start generating money itself when some of the dam's CARDINAL turbines whir into life in DATE, financing PERCENT of the cost.
+The dam will eventually fire out QUANTITY of electricity DATE, transmitting power to nearly every major city in GPE.
+Asked how the company would make up a shortfall of MONEY, officials coupled rosy predictions about overseas bond issues and export credits with steely defiance against foreign jitters over the project.
+""The overall trend is that we need to develop towards international channels,"" PERSON said. He hailed a deal with GPE for MONEY in export credits for the project's computer network.
+The company was eyeing a long-delayed foreign bond issue in the near future and could look to a stock issue further down the road, said deputy general manager PERSON.
+""When we will issue bonds and stocks remains to be seen. When the time comes, we will make an announcement,"" ORG said.
+EXIMBANK SHORT-SIGHTED, SAYS YUAN
+Vice-president PERSON dismissed ORG refusal to finance the dam because of environmental worries as short-sighted folly, saying the decision would only hurt GPE firms and workers.
+""We would welcome a change in attitude by GPE toward ORG,"" PERSON said. ""It would not only be good for the project, it would bring numerous benefits to NORP companies.""
+The dam, which will create a QUANTITY (QUANTITY) reservoir, has drawn heavy fire from environmental and human rights groups abroad, who fear damage to the river ecology and fret over the resettlement of CARDINAL local residents.
+Chief engineer PERSON vowed GPE would find the funding at home if cash failed to materialise from abroad.
+""If you don't want to lend to me, I can overcome that,"" PERSON said.
+Faced with the job of moving QUANTITY (QUANTITY) of soil and stone, the company has bought construction equipment from ORG of GPE, GPE's ORG and other foreign firms.
+""Our purchases of foreign equipment now total MONEY,"" vice-president PERSON said.
+BIG PRIZE
+The big prize will be landed in DATE.
+It is then that GPE is to sign a MONEY contract with foreign suppliers for the CARDINAL QUANTITY generators that will be part of the heart of the riparian behemoth.
+Consortia involving GPE's ORG, ORG, and ORG and ORG -- among others -- are expected to participate in the bidding, scheduled to open on DATE.
+The numbers are on a giant scale. CARDINAL (QUANTITY) of concrete will be poured into the dam, shiplocks and navigation channels. QUANTITY of rebar and QUANTITY of metal will be used.
+To carry out the herculean task, GPE has mobilised CARDINAL of workers to build the project.
+A steady stream of dumptrucks with tires twice as tall as a man rumble to and from the sprawling construction site. Mountains of sand, gravel and steel bars line the roads.
+Proud officials voiced conviction that the decision taken after DATE of vacillation was the correct one.
+""We are confident we have the capability to finish the construction,"" He said.
+($MONEY = MONEY)","The GPE stock market ended weaker in brisk trading on DATE, hit by a sell off in NORP bonds and heavily weighted bank stocks.
+ORG key CARDINAL Composite Index fell CARDINAL points to close at CARDINAL, down PERCENT. Trading totalled CARDINAL shares worth MONEY (MONEY.)
+""It was a bond-led downdraft,"" CARDINAL trader said of DATE's market action.
+NORP bonds recorded their biggest DATE drop in DATE. Investors sold off bonds with GPE/GPE spreads at near record lows, while a flood of new corporate supply also depressed bonds DATE, traders said.
+Weakness in GPE's currency also helped spark the bond sell-off. The DATE benchmark bond fell MONEYMONEY to yield PERCENT.
+""This is a made-in-GPE meltdown,"" RBC Dominion Securities analyst PERSON said in a stock report.
+Investors are now likely to buy more natural resource stocks after selling holdings in the financial services, CARDINAL trader said. ""This signals a rotation out of the interest sensitives to some more cyclical names,"" he said.
+The shift already started, with stronger golds helping restrain GPE's fall.
+Of GPE's CARDINAL sub-indices, banks fell the most at PERCENT, followed by media, utilities and pipelines. Financial services and banks are the most important group on the index.
+Golds, real estate, and retail rose.
+Falling issues powered ahead of advancing ones CARDINAL to CARDINAL, while CARDINAL traded flat.
+Among hot stocks, ORG fell MONEYMONEY on CARDINAL shares. GPE's ORDINAL largest bank reported net profits rose to MONEY for DATE from MONEY DATE.
+ORG, GPE's ORDINAL largest bank, fell MONEYMONEY on CARDINAL shares.
+ORG and ORG were heavily traded.
+PERSON, which has been advised to do a deal with ORG over the ownership of its huge Busang gold discovery by the NORP government, said it is seeking clarification on what kind of arrangement it should negotiate.
+PERSON shares ended flat at C$MONEY while ORG rose MONEYMONEY.",0
+"A MONEY merger between ORG and ORG looks as good as agreed, crystallising the largest ever international business combination in record time.
+Analysts and consultants said on DATE that news of a GPE news conference at TIME (CARDINAL ORG) on DATE means the boards needed minimal time to wrap up the deal after the negotiations were reported on DATE.
+ORG announced it would hold a news conference in GPE at TIME (1900 ORG).
+""At this point it really does sound like a done deal,"" said consultant PERSON of ORG.
+At the conference ORG executives are likely to announce a $MONEY per share stock and cash offer valuing PERCENT of ORG that it doesn't already own at MONEY, and the entire company at MONEY, analysts said.
+If ORG, with a market capitalisation of MONEY (MONEY) uses mainly stock to foot the bill, it could mean ORG shareholders would own PERCENT of the combined company.
+As a single company ORGORG would be a true colossus, with revenues of MONEY, CARDINAL employees and a market value of MONEY.
+In the international big league it would be behind only ORG and ORG and ORG of GPE. In LOC, it would be roughly the same size as ORG.
+ORG directors, meeting on DATE in ""The ORG,"" the name ORG staff give to their granite-domed GPE headquarters, have reason to be well pleased with the deal.
+Analysts say ORG management will be left in charge of the GPE market, and be given more money to fight in new markets and defend existing ones in the new deregulated environment.
+""It is inconceivable to me that BT would change the ORG management,"" PERSON said.
+For ORG the deal brings PERCENT fillip to a stock price that had languished for DATE, but for ORG the benefits may be more symbolic than actual, analysts say.
+""What does BT get for its MONEY?"" asked PERSON of ORG.
+""You only need a global strategy to serve big businesses and they already have their PERSON venture to serve that market. Other markets are regional,"" he said.
+Economies of scale would be hard to find. Both companies already squeeze their suppliers to the limit, their brands are already strong in their respective markets, and geography and local market knowledge will continue to dictate fortunes.
+According to CARDINAL source close to the deal, staff numbers are not going to be cut as part of the deal, although existing job and cost cutting initiatives will continue.
+A final hurdle, long thought insuperable to such a deal, is GPE regulatory objections. But regulatory experts say ORG itself opened a loophole DATE.
+The ORG made a ruling that said bidders from truly open markets would be allowed to exceed the PERCENT limit on foreign ownership of GPE media and communication assets.
+""ORG's home GPE market is the most open in LOC and arguably the most open in the world,"" said PERSON, telecommunications director for ORGamp; ORG.","GPE's CARDINAL biggest banks are poised for a further round of buoyant profits when they begin reporting DATE earnings DATE, setting the stage for DATE, analysts said.
+An improved interest rate picture, higher investment banking and dealing revenues and better loan quality are expected to drive profits in DATE.
+On average, earnings for the so-called Big Six are expected to be PERCENT higher than DATE, analysts said.
+""I would expect more sectors of the banks to be more profitable than they were in DATE,"" said PERSON, an analyst with ORG.
+ORG and ORG, GPE's third- and ORDINAL-largest banks, respectively, kick off the earnings parade on DATE.
+GPE's ORDINAL-biggest bank, ORG, and the smallest, ORG, report on DATE.
+The country's top CARDINAL banks, ORG and ORG, are scheduled to deliver their results DATE.
+Despite a recent downturn in financial markets, analysts said securities earnings should be stronger than DATE. GPE's brokerage industry is dominated by subsidiaries of the countries major banks.
+The banks are also expected to benefit from lower loan losses as the industry continues to rebound from disastrous loans in commercial real estate, which collapsed in DATE.
+Despite the correction in stocks DATE, bank stocks have remained strong performers. Lower NORP interest rates have helped push bank stock prices to all-time highs on ORG.
+""I think that if the combination of strong profitability couples up with lower interest rates, then it probably will set the backdrop for higher share prices,"" said PERSON, an analyst with ORG
+Analysts said they do not expect any of the banks to raise their dividends during the reporting period.
+But the string of record bank profits are expected to yield dividend hikes at DATE.
+The big banks are on track for DATE of record DATE profits. The group rang up a combined profit of MONEY in DATE, up from MONEY DATE.
+As for DATE, ORG said he expects a modest increase in profits.
+""Investment banking is a cyclical business. It may tail off a bit, but there is no sign of a recession yet, so I would think we could get modestly higher earnings DATE,"" he said.
+ORG is expected to report a DATE profit of MONEY NORP (MONEY) per share, up from MONEY NORP (MONEY) per share DATE, according to figures supplied by ORG.
+ORG's earnings are seen climbing to C$1 (MONEY) per share in DATE, up from MONEY NORP (MONEY) a share.
+ORG is expected to post a MONEY NORP (MONEY) per share profit, up slightly from MONEY NORP (MONEY) per share in DATE.
+ORG DATE earnings are forecast to rise to MONEY NORP (MONEY) per share from MONEY (MONEY) NORP a share DATE.
+CIBC's DATE results are pegged at C$MONEY ($MONEY) a share compared to DATE C$MONEY (MONEY) per share.
+ORG is seen improving to MONEY NORP (MONEY) a share in DATE, up from MONEY NORP (MONEY) per share DATE.",0
+"The world's biggest aluminium smelter, GPE's ORG plant, opposes any output-cutting schemes and wants to boost production and to compete better on world markets, a senior company official said on DATE.
+""Bratsk is an inveterate supporter of market-economy principles and not of schemes that violate such principles or of anti-monopoly laws,"" said PERSON, a ORG board member based in GPE who conducts corporate strategy and watches ORG prices.
+""Each company should choose the strategy best suiting it.""
+AOOT Bratsky Aluminievy Zavod (PERSON), based in southern LOC close to plentiful hydroelectric power, has already increased output of CARDINAL higher-grade material to PERCENT of total production from PERCENT.
+Shlaifshtein declined to provide production figures but said competitiveness abroad and at home were essential to ORG's long-term strategy.
+An independent metals source who asked not to be named said PERSON produced QUANTITY of primary aluminium in DATE after QUANTITY in DATE and QUANTITY in DATE.
+Bratsk's costs, already some of the lowest among NORP aluminium producers, are MONEY per tonne of aluminium produced and transported to PERSON via PERSON, said PERSON of the ORG consultancy.
+""Their production is pretty profitable,"" he said.
+But PERSON said PERSON was seeking to streamline costs even further and that a new, tough attitude to debtors by NORP tax officials could put flagging competitors in the NORP part of GPE out of business.
+""Each factory should improve its economic situation and cost factors in order to be competitive on the market,"" he said.
+Bratsk does not like to talk about a recently-ended global output-cutting deal which required NORP producers to cut back production to boost sagging world prices.
+World prices are again flagging --- but PERSON said that this time, cutting output was not an option.
+""The volume of output at the plant should change only on the basis of one's own strategic interests, of the overall economic situation and of the market situtaion,"" PERSON said.
+He said it made economic sense for the plant to use its capacity, but gave no further details.
+Bratsk, GPE's flagship aluminium smelter, wants to top its DATE record output of QUANTITY a year after QUANTITY in DATE.
+Its total capacity is QUANTITY and possibly QUANTITY, according to NORP industry sources.
+Bratsk had already closed a unit for technological and environmental reasons by the time GPE, GPE, GPE, GPE, GPE and ORG signed a DATE global output-cutting memorandum of understanding in DATE. The deal expired DATE.
+Bratsk produces most of its metal under tolling arrangements with GPE-based shareholder ORG, which has CARDINAL a PERCENT stake in the plant. --Moscow Newsroom, +7095 CARDINAL 8520","The head of war-torn GPE's oil company said on DATE that GPE's rebellious region would guarantee the safety of a major oil pipeline across its land but demanded a cut in foreign deals that will use the link.
+PERSON, president of ORG, which is based in the devastated capital LOC, told a news conference that an MONEY multinational consortium that will use the link to export oil in DATE should not worry because the pipeline was safe and sound.
+""We guarantee the link's safety,"" he said. ""But remember that with pipelines all over the world, things sometimes happen -- sabotage, technical errors, human errors.""
+He said GPE should get a cut from transit fees via the so-called northern link, which can carry QUANTITY of oil a year.
+""The NORP part is approximately in the same condition as the rest of the link,"" he said, referring to the stretch running through PERSON and linking the NORP capital GPE to GPE's LOC oil export outlet of LOC.
+The CARDINAL international oil companies in ORG plan to reverse the flow of the pipeline to ship QUANTITY per day (bpd) of early oil from their NORP offshore projects near GPE from DATE.
+The consortium is led by an alliance of ORG and GPE's Statoil.
+Protracted bloodshed and instability in the DATE NORP conflict have given the consortium the jitters ever since GPE sent troops into GPE in DATE in a bloody bid to rein in the breakaway region.
+The oil firms, worried that exports from their big ticket investments could fall prey to a separatist war, have access to a ORDINAL export route via the former NORP republic of GPE.
+Underscoring the fragility of the region for oil investors, CARDINAL foreigners working with ORG were shot dead at a NORP hospital on DATE and CARDINAL ethnic NORP were killed on DATE.
+PERSON, who said he had faced a cool reception at GPE's LOC oil pipeline monopoly, which owns and operates the pipeline, and at ORG, said GPE was not doing enough to resurrect the region's once-glorious oil sector.
+While he said the pipeline was no worse for the war, GPE's production and refining facilities had been laid waste.
+CARDINAL roubles (MONEY) were needed to bring the facilities back on line. PERSON said financing could come from a NORP cut in the transport fees that the NORP oil consortium will pay to ship oil via GPE.
+""We want our share of profits from the transport of oil across our country,"" he said, adding the NORP group would pay $MONEY per tonne to send oil from its LOC platforms near GPE to Novorossiisk.
+The NORP oil consortium also includes NORP state firm ORG, ORG, ORG, ORG, ORG, ORG, GPE's LUKoil, ORG, ORG, ORG and GPE LOC.
+ORG, also called ORG, had hoped to stabilise output at MONEY a year before the breakaway region descended into bloodshed.
+GPE accounted for CARDINAL of NORP oil production in DATE, or QUANTITY a year, before GPE began tapping its massive NORP reserves.
+Refining capacity in the south NORP region is QUANTITY a year, but operations have ceased.
+($1=5549 Rouble)",1
+"GPE lawmaking chamber suffered a blow DATE when its speaker broke ranks to vie for a seat in an interim body GPE plans to install in the territory DATE, political analysts said on DATE.
+PERSON, ORG president, made an about-turn when he said he was seeking a seat in ORG, a body he denounced during DATE elections.
+But his move to join CARDINAL colleagues seeking seats in the provisional body, which GPE will put in place of ORG, threatens to widen schisms already dividing the chamber, commentators said.
+""PERSON which have already emerged within ORG over the bid by some members for a seat on ORG will widen in DATE,"" said PERSON, political commentator with the DATE edition of LOC newspaper.
+PERSON warned of a flurry of motion debates, adding that ""the normal operation of ORG will be adversely affected to a great extent, if not paralysed"".
+GPE, angered by a string of democratic reforms implemented by colonial Governor PERSON, has vowed to disband the present elected legislature and replace it with the provisional assembly when GPE returns to NORP rule in DATE.
+On DATE, ORG, carefully assembled by GPE, is expected to choose the man who will succeed PERSON as the territory's ORDINAL post-colonial leader.
+The committee's next task is to name the CARDINAL-member ORG on DATE.
+PERSON, denounced by some fellow legislators, would not say whether he supported ORG, but he tried to convince reporters he would remain an impartial leader of the existing chamber.
+""You ought to wait until I act partially -- and when that happens, criticise me and I will retract my decisions and previous rulings,"" PERSON told reporters on DATE.
+While it is not yet clear how and where the future ORG will meet and operate before it actually assumes office DATE, observers said the existence of CARDINAL lawmaking bodies cannot auger well for the territory.
+""In any country, when you have CARDINAL bodies from which laws emanate at the same time, there's going to be some confusion and dispute,"" said PERSON, associate professor at GPE ORG, who is in charge of a long-term study on the transition.
+""For DATE, we're obviously going to be in a very confused state. Normally this causes all kinds of political and economic chaos.""","Major airlines operating cargo flights to LOC are to raise their ex-GPE cargo rates by MONEY per kg from DATE to try and offset increased jet fuel prices, airline officials told ORG.
+PERSON, the chief operating officer of the territory's all-cargo airline, ORG, said an emergency meeting of airlines was held in GPE TIME to discuss a fuel surcharge.
+Among the airlines represented were ORG, PERSON, ORG, GPE and GPE, he said.
+ORG -- a major carrier from GPE to GPE was not represented, industry sources said.
+""Fuel costs have escalated to such a level that it is only right and fair that the shippers share some of the cost because the impact on the airlines has been very obvious,"" NORP said.
+Other carriers operating LOC routes for instance are also expected to follow suit with a similar increase, NORP added.  
+PERSON, regional cargo manager for ORG in GPE said his airline will apply the increase from DATE along with PERSON. GPE, GPE and other carriers would follow DATE, he added.
+""It is a world-wide problem. Fuel prices in GPE rose MONEY from DATE, in LOC they have risen CARDINAL per cent DATE and something has to be done. We hope this will help us,"" PERSON said.
+Another cargo manager said, ""It is not a case of running out of patience but of running out of money.""
+ORG DATE reported a PERCENT slump in profits in DATE due to higher fuel costs and the yen's retreat against the dollar.
+ORG said fuel costs had risen by MONEY compared with DATE.
+Other major NORP cargo airlines in the region say they are watching the situation closely.
+Ming Fai Lai, cargo manager for ORG in GPE, said it is waiting before deciding to follow suit but said an MONEY rise would only have a limited benefit.
+""If all NORP carriers unanimously raise their rates then we will follow but it is not clear if they will all adopt the same policy. MONEY may help a little bit but for the future I don't think it will help that much,"" said PERSON. --Air Cargo PRODUCT Tel+44 171 542 7706 Fax +44 171 542 5017",0
+"At this DATE's ORG computer trade show, the most sought-after people are not ORG PERSON or ORG PERSON, but corporate computer buyers.
+Personal computer makers and software vendors are relying heavily on their corporate customers DATE to make up for disappointing sales to consumers, executives at the trade show said DATE.
+While many consumers have been putting off their computer shopping until DATE -- when new gadgets come out -- corporate customers are finally dumping their older PCs and buying lots of machines that can run the latest business software from ORG.
+""Certainly we see a tremendously strong business environment as a major upgrade cycle is now occurring,"" said PERSON, senior vice president at ORG.. ""We think DATE will be excellent.""
+Winkler and other PC executives said the recent release of ORG's EVENT operating system and Office CARDINAL package of business programmes was fuelling corporate sales. These programmes work best with the computing horsepower of machines based on ORG's top-of-the-line ORG computer chip.
+In large part because of strong corporate sales, domestic PC shipments in DATE were expected to rise PERCENT to CARDINAL units, according to ORG, a market researcher.
+""The bottom line here is that the outlook for DATE for our business is very strong,"" said PERSON, a group marketing manager of PCs at ORG..
+Based on executives' bullish comments at ORG DATE, stocks of most PC makers have gained in DATE.
+ORG rose MONEY and ORG jumped MONEY $MONEY, both on ORG, while ORG added $MONEY to $MONEY and ORG gained MONEYMONEY, both on Nasdaq.
+Still, DATE has been disappointing to some PC makers, especially those that concentrate heavily on consumer sales.
+DATE this time, the release of ORG's Windows 95, software that makes PCs easier to use, drew lots of people to computer stores to buy their ORDINAL PCs. The industry has no such attraction DATE.
+In fact, analysts said, consumers were putting off computer shopping DATE as the industry prepares new machines based on ORG's upcoming MMX technology. MMX-based machines, slated to be released in DATE, will feature better video, sound and CARDINAL-D graphics.
+In DATE, computer stocks slid as CompUSA Inc. and other computer retailers reported softening sales heading into DATE.
+""There's no question that DATE started out slow, but we're hopeful that things are getting better,"" said PERSON, senior vice president of marketing at closely held ORG, the ORDINAL-biggest PC maker in GPE behind ORG.
+Consumer sales appear to be improving as it gets closer to DATE, while prices of computer components remain low, ORG said. ""It looks like we're going to get a reasonable DATE.""","ORG told employees it has a potential buyer for CARDINAL of its parts plants, but denied reports DATE that it is in discussions to sell the facilities to NORP auto supplier ORG
+ORG informed workers at its FAC plant in GPE, GPE, on DATE that it has a possible buyer for the facility and CARDINAL others, union and company representatives said DATE.
+The CARDINAL workers at the GPE plant were not told who the prospective buyer is, said officials at ORG union Local CARDINAL.
+""They did tell us that as we spoke the potential buyer was entering into discussions,"" said PERSON, a district shop committee officer for Local CARDINAL.
+ORG reported DATE that ORG is talking with PERSON, of GPE, and that a deal could be announced soon. Separately, a source with knowledge of the auto supplier industry told ORG that ORG, a division of ORG, won the bidding for the plants, although the deal had not been finalized.
+But ORG spokeswoman PERSON denied that PERSON is a finalist to buy the plants. ""It's not PERSON, it's not a division of ORG,"" she said.""
+CARDINAL factor that could delay the announcement is the continuing contract talks between the ORG in GPE and GPE and GPE's Big Three automakers. If PERSON does turn out to be the buyer, it may be to ORG's advantage to hold off finalizing a deal. Magna has previously had a contentious relationship with ORG union.
+The buyer wants to purchase the GPE plant, CARDINAL in GPE, GPE, and CARDINAL in GPE as a group. The plants employ a total of CARDINAL TIME workers and make a variety of interior parts, including hinges, door panels and instrument panels, ORG said.
+The GPE plant, which makes hardware, and the GPE facility, which makes interior door panels, are both ORG plants. The fabricating facility in GPE, GPE, and a seat plant in GPE, are managed by ORG of GPE but make products for ORG.
+ORG spokeswoman PERSON would not say if the CARDINAL facilities are among the CARDINAL underperforming ORG plants that ORG has said it wants to divest.",0
+"Semiconductor stocks, Wall Street's whipping boys for DATE, are headed toward becoming prized performers amid signs that double-digit growth is returning to the once hot sector, analysts said.
+NORP sales and bookings data for DATE due out on DATE TIME are expected to confirm that the industry has reached a cyclical bottom and is poised to see a rebound in profits -- perhaps as early as DATE.
+""They should definitely reaccelerate from here,"" said Montgomery analyst PERSON of chip sales.","ORG, a leading maker of software for businesses, said DATE it agreed to pay MONEY for ORG
+ORG, the largest independent maker of business software for mainframe computers, said it will offer $MONEY in cash for each share of PERSON. PERSON's stock jumped $MONEY to $MONEY in TIME trading on ORG.
+ORG stock gained MONEY to $MONEY on ORG.
+While investors applauded the announcement, industry analysts said they were puzzled by what they viewed as the expensive price ORG agreed to pay.
+""This is departure from their standard practice,"" said ORG analyst PERSON. ""They are paying more than they ever have. There's clearly some synergies,"" he added. ""The question is whether those synergies are worth CARDINAL times sales.""
+Cheyenne reported revenues of MONEY in DATE.
+The deal, which has been rumoured for DATE, has been unanimously approved by the boards of directors of both ORG, the companies said.
+PERSON, N.Y.-based PERSON makes storage management, anti-virus and communications software products designed to run on client/server networks in which personal computers are tied together in a network run by a larger computer, or server.
+ORG said PERSON's products will bolster its own systems management software offerings, which run on both client/server and mainframe computer networks. CA derives a majority of its revenues from mainframe software.
+""We are extremely excited by the synergistic nature of this acquisition,"" said CA Chairman PERSON.
+ORG said it will fund the acquisition through cash balances and existing credit facilities.
+""PERSON is the recognised leader in storage management solutions for the Windows NT and ORG environments,"" ORG said in a statement. ""The addition of its product suite will strengthen our efforts in the desktop and ORG environments.""
+ORG said it intended to retain all of PERSON's employees. It is expected that PERSON will operate as a division of ORG and will continue to support its current distribution channel strategy.
+Both companies are based on GPE LOC.
+DATE, PERSON successively waged an aggressive fight to fend off a MONEY unwelcome takeover bid by ORG, a rival maker of systems management and anti-virus software.
+Since DATE, ORG has grown through a campaign of CARDINAL acquisitions to become of the world's leading independent supplier of software.
+PERSON, a software analyst with technology research firm ORG in GPE, GPE, said the latest acquisition does not fit what he called ""the CA model, both in terms of acqusisitions and product strategy.
+""It's hard to see where this fits in. If they were getting this at a great price, I could understand the deal,"" he said.
+The companies scheduled a teleconference with Wall Street analysts DATE TIME.",1
+"GPE's Gazprom natural gas monopoly plans to double exports to LOC by DATE, mostly via its ambitious MONEY ORG pipeline project, but energy analysts said the timing could be wrong.
+""There's a market problem (with oversupply in LOC), and the cost of developing the ORG field will be too high,"" said a senior NORP energy specialist familiar with the project.
+""LOC is at saturation level for DATE, so Gazprom is DATE too early.""
+The ORG-Europe project envisions building a gas pipeline network across QUANTITY (QUANTITY) from GPE's vast LOC peninsula reserves to GPE via GPE and GPE.
+Gazprom wants to take advantage of rising NORP demand.
+To help raise capital for ORG, ORG Gazprom is offering ORG as part of a plan to sell a total PERCENT stake abroad.
+""LOC can hardly wait for this project,"" said PERSON, Gazprom's chief public relations specialist.
+A company statement said: ""The company faces significant requirements for capital expenditures.""
+The ORG system, to be built in stages and linking with existing pipelines in some places, would have an initial capacity of QUANTITY (bcm) per year, including CARDINAL bcm to LOC.
+Gazprom said the ORG-Europe pipeline would boost GPE's export capacity to CARDINAL bcm by DATE and CARDINAL bcm by DATE. Sales outside the former GPE were CARDINAL bcm in DATE.
+The company wants DATE exports to rise by CARDINAL bcm by DATE.
+Gazprom has won big Western credits to build NORP parts of the ORG link into GPE's grid and GPE, but it has not won financing for the main part of the system or to boost output at ORG itself, which it hopes to begin doing by DATE.
+PERSON, special adviser to the president of NORP company Total SA, told an energy conference in the Kazakh capital ORG DATE that GPE had huge gas reserves but big financial constraints.
+""Yamal is not needed before DATE,"" he said.
+He said netbacks (a key indicator of profitability) on ORG gas to GPE DATE were negative, ""so ORG is not obvious from an economic standpoint.""
+Gazprom sees Yamal as the goose that will lay the golden egg, since the area has recoverable reserves of CARDINAL bcm, or PERCENT of GPE's total proven reserves.
+But ORG gas, some under permafrost, is in a remote area and is quite expensive to recover.
+Some analysts say it may be cheaper to tap and transport NORP and NORP gas to NORP markets than to extract ORG gas in the volumes and time-frame Gazprom plans.
+NORP gas already accounts for PERCENT of LOC's total gas imports. GPE has CARDINAL of world gas reserves and PERCENT of output, and is the world's single largest producer, with output of CARDINAL bcm DATE.
+Gazprom accounts for PERCENT of NORP gas output and transports nearly all of it. The firm wants output to rise to CARDINAL bcm DATE by DATE.
+GPE exports PERCENT of its output, and declining industrial consumption at home has left GPE with an oversupply. LOC is also flush with supplies, though demand is set to rise.
+""The fact that Gazprom does not have its own financing for ORG and that it has not been able to find domestic or foreign financing (for the main part of the project) speaks quite negatively about its economics,"" said the NORP source.","ORG chairman and chief executive PERSON, visiting GPE for News' DATE meeting DATE, says his global media group remains on track to boost profits by PERCENT in CARDINAL.
+PERSON, in a newspaper interview published on DATE, also ruled out any potential ORG bid for NORP newspaper publisher ORG and said PERSON ORG had repeatedly tried to sell its PERCENT GPE stake in DATE.
+ORG owns PERCENT of GPE.  
+Rejoining his recent feud with ORG owner PERSON and ORG, PERSON also said he was confident his law suit against the CARDINAL would succeed.
+ORG said on DATE that PERSON's lawsuit to block the merger of ORG was a ""frivolous piece of junk.""
+PERSON said he was confident he would win the legal action launched DATE to block the ORG merger with ORG.
+""We've got a good stoush (fight) there,"" PERSON said.
+""We'll win through there. How or where I don't know but we'll just keep the pressure on,"" he said.  
+PERSON repeated News' bullish outlook for profits.
+""If the NORP economy holds where it is and the NORP one does, yes certainly (the PERCENT rise is attainable),"" he told ORG ORG newspaper in GPE.
+""But it is still DATE to be saying that,"" the newspaper quoted PERSON as saying.
+ORG said after its CARDINAL results in DATE that a PERCENT profit rise in DATE was very attainable. News posted a MONEY net profit in CARDINAL.  
+PERSON then said the government's investigation of the current cross-media rules, which stop the dual ownership of newspapers and television stations in the same city, would benefit Packer. PERSON predicted the cross-media restrictions would be removed, but that foreign ownership rules would stay.
+""So it will leave things open for him (Packer) and not for us,"" PERSON said.
+The rules currently stop ORG from increasing its PERCENT holding in GPE while it owns the top-rating ORG.  
+They also stop PERSON's News from increasing its PERCENT stake in ORG while it owns ORG newspaper publishing change. Foreign ownership rules stop News from increasing its PERCENT stake in GPE.
+Asked what he expected to emerge from the government's investigation into the cross-media rules, PERSON said: ""I think whatever Mr Packer wants. He seems to have very close influence with certain ministers in this government.""
+PERSON would not name the ministers.
+However Packer was unlikely to push for a higher GPE stake at the moment, PERSON said.  
+""I don't want to buy GPE. I don't believe Mr (Kerry) Packer wants to buy GPE,"" he said.
+""To my knowledge he (Packer) has CARDINAL times tried to sell his shares within DATE. He'd like to influence and have the power of GPE but he's too shrewd to be paying for GPE at DATE's price.""
+GPE is PERCENT owned by ORG ORG, which is majority owned by ORG  
+PERSON also criticised the conservative government of NORP prime minister PERSON for not implementing decisive changes to boost the economy.
+""If you're going to make radical changes, you'd better make them in DATE,"" PERSON said of the government, which defeated the ORG government in the election on DATE.
+""I think they've been slow to do that and not appearing as radical a government as I would have hoped,"" he said.
+-- ORG CARDINAL-2 373-1800",0
+"ORG shares, which surged on DATE after DATE confirmation that the telecoms giant had merged with ORG of the GPE, should be valued at QUANTITY each, analysts said on DATE.
+News of the biggest trans-Atlantic deal in history, linking GPE's dominant telecoms company with GPE's ORDINAL largest international carrier, has helped instititions on this side of the LOC reassess ORG's growth prospects.
+By DATE ORG, CARDINAL shares had exchanged hands as the stock surged DATE to MONEY down from an earlier PRODUCT.  
+""This deal will force people to look at ORG in a new light; look at the international operations; look at the international alliances in LOC; to look at what they could be doing with the Internet because ORG is a big player there,"" said CARDINAL analyst who asked to be named.
+""All these much higher growth and much more exciting elements of ORG in which the company has been quietly building value will come much more the fore,"" he added, noting that he was pitching the stock's true value at MONEY.  
+Analysts were split on how much of the share price rise was attributable to the MONEY ORG merger, which included a MONEY stg special dividend for ORG shareholders.
+But they said the market had been valuing the MONEY stg group more as a GPE utility, with PERCENT of its revenues governed by a regulatory price cap. However, having lined up CARDINAL NORP joint-ventures, ORG's share of the population in LOC for which they will have a licence could rise to CARDINAL.  
+""In DATE time, PERCENT of ORG's revenues will be covered by a price cap. And, with their NORP operations getting off the ground, they will have a very substantial business in international markets,"" the analyst added.
+Another analyst said that news of the special dividend alone had helped lift ORG's shares by PERCENT. Analysts have welcomed the move by ORG, which has negligible gearing, to increase borrowing to make it more capital efficient.
+""I think its a QUANTITY stock,"" he said. ""The market did want to see capital restructuring.""
+The deal helps lift ORG's gearing to PERCENT.  
+""The majority of the share price rise is a function of what is happening to the balance sheet rather than it being an indication that ORG was the right thing to buy,"" he added.
+CARDINAL analyst at brokers ORG said that the ORG deal yielded a leverage benefit of CARDINAL percentage points off the weighted average cost of capital through ORG being more highly geared.
+-- GPE PRODUCT +44 CARDINAL DATE","GPE - Shares in ORG (BT) surged on both sides of the LOC on DATE as traders furiously dealt the stock higher in the wake of a MONEY mega-merger with GPE's ORDINAL biggest carrier, ORG.
+Analysts said the deal with ORG, which turns the ORG/ORG combine into the world's ORDINAL largest international telephone group with DATE revenues of over MONEY (MONEY), was mainly welcomed because it would force BT to become more capital efficient by increasing its borrowing.
+Weekend news of the biggest transatlantic deal in history, linking GPE's dominant telecoms company with a major NORP player, also prompted some analysts to reassess ORG's growth prospects.
+Just under 82.5 million ORG shares exchanged hands in GPE on DATE and the stock ended a sharp MONEY higher at MONEY, having touched MONEY during trade.
+Some analysts recommended buying ORG shares up to MONEY on the back of the tremendous growth prosepects in the telecoms market, CARDINAL of the world's most rapidly changing industries.
+The deal, which creates the world's ORDINAL largest telecoms group in terms of sales after GPE's ORG and ORG (ORG), GPE's ORG and GPE's ORG also allows ORG to limit its dependence on the heavily regulated NORP telecoms market.
+""This deal will force people to look at ORG in a new light; look at the international operations, look at the international alliances in LOC, look at what they could be doing with the Internet because ORG is a big player there,"" said CARDINAL analyst who asked not to be named.
+""All these much higher growth and much more exciting elements of ORG in which the company has been quietly building value will come much more to the fore,"" he added, noting that he was pitching the stock's value at MONEY.
+The merger, which was sweetened with a QUANTITY special dividend for ORG shareholders, helps lift the company's debt-to-equity ratio, or gearing, to PERCENT from PERCENT.
+Analysts have been valuing ORG, which had a market value of MONEY before the ORG deal was announced on DATE, as a NORP utility that had PERCENT of its revenues governed by a regulatory price cap.
+But having lined up CARDINAL NORP joint-ventures, ORG's share of the population in LOC alone for which it may win a licence could rise to CARDINAL. Armed with ORG, it also hopes to be better placed to win market share in LOC -- possibly with ORG.
+""In DATE time, PERCENT of ORG's revenues will be covered by a price cap. And, with their NORP operations getting off the ground, they will have a very substantial business in international markets,"" said CARDINAL analyst.
+BT and ORG's alliance, dubbed ORG, still needs to win regulatory clearance in both GPE and GPE.
+GPE's ORG (DTI) said that it was still unclear whether the merger, which ORG believes will be cleared in DATE, would fall under its remit for clearance or under that of ORG.
+One of the issues that determines which regulatory authority rules on the merger will be the turnover of the new company. However, any ORG decision would be made in conjunction with advice from ORG, the NORP telecoms regulator, and the ORG.
+Most analysts believe that while there are hurdles to the deal, the merger is likely to be shown the green light.
+Under GPE rules, a PERCENT stake limit in GPE communication companies can be lifted if it is in the public interest. PERSON, as a major competitor both in the GPE and internationally, would help drive down call rates. ($MONEY Pound)",1
+"NORP banks, still struggling under the weight of massive problem loans, now face tough decisions on how to adapt to expected structural changes to the country's economy and financial system, analysts say.
+They say it is inevitable the banks will need to shift their focus towards creating new business and offering specific services to boost profits as demand for loans weakens.
+Prime Minister PERSON's ""Big Bang"" financial reform plans unveiled DATE to liberalise GPE's financial markets by DATE will also accelerate competition.
+""To increase profitability, NORP banks must change the sources of their profits,"" said PERSON, a director at international credit rating agency ORG
+On DATE, ORG announced sweeping plans to deregulate GPE's foreign exchange market in DATE.
+PERSON, director-general of the ministry's ORG, warned that NORP banks will face intensified competition as a result of the deregulation.
+""I hope NORP financial institutions will be well prepared for severe competition in the future,"" he said.
+Tight regulation, dating back to the end of EVENT, has protected NORP banks from competition and has made them less efficient than Western rivals, analysts say.
+And because of that, some analysts such as PERSON, senior credit officer at rating agency ORG, are pessimistic about the future of NORP banks.
+""It seems to me that NORP banks cannot judge which business is profitable... It looks like the banks all think they can do everything with unlimited resources,"" he said.
+Since DATE, NORP banks have written off problem loans resulting from their adventurous lending policies in the late 1980 ""bubble economy"" of inflated asset prices.
+But as of DATE, CARDINAL major banks were still carrying MONEY (MONEY) worth of problem loans.
+Analysts say it will take DATE on average for the top CARDINAL banks to cut the loans to manageable levels, giving foreign banks further chances to to nudge into the market.
+""Foreign banks have expanded and strengthened their business base in DATE, but NORP banks were not able to do anything because they had to dispose of the problem loans,"" said ORG's GPE.
+GPE's CARDINAL biggest banks, down from CARDINAL after a merger in DATE between ORG and ORG, posted MONEY (MONEY) in parent operating profits in an DATE period to DATE.
+During that time they also disposed of MONEY (MONEY) in problem loans, GPE said.
+Even profitability at ORG, which many analysts agree is the strongest NORP candidate to become an internationally competitive bank, is low.
+The bank's return on equity, a gauge to show the efficiency of the use of capital, is PERCENT, compared with ORG PERCENT and ORG PERCENT, an ORG study showed.
+Analysts say they expect more bank failures in GPE, particularly among smaller regional banks and credit unions.
+In DATE, NORP authorities ordered the regional ORG to halt business, the ORDINAL regional bank failure since the end of EVENT. Eleven smaller credit unions and associations have also gone under since DATE.
+Analysts said uncertainty over how to deal with troubled banks has not been entirely removed in GPE, and there remains some concern that larger and stronger banks may be drawn into the support mechanism at some cost to themselves.
+NORP banks to which ORG has given a bank financial strength rating (ORG) of ""E"" are financially weak, ORG said.
+ORGamp; GPE and ORGamp; GPE, ORG and ORG are the E rated banks.
+""There are no GPE banks which received an E rating. Banks with E ratings are those which have been supported (in GPE's regulated system) despite their inefficiency,"" he said. (MONEY)","GPE, worried about being isolated in global capital markets, is working to harmonise its domestic accounting standards with international methods.
+Finance Ministry (ORG) officials and analysts say GPE must comply with international accounting methods amid growing criticism that it is difficult to calculate how much risk a NORP firm holds.
+""To raise funds in international capital markets, financial statements of NORP firms must be accepted by foreign investors,"" said an official in ORG's securities bureau.
+Naruaki Sonoda, ORG senior analyst, says: ""It is needed to harmonise NORP standards with international ones as it is costly for NORP firms which want to raise funds overseas to have to make CARDINAL financial statements based on domestic and international standards.""
+DATE, an advisory body to the ministry started a DATE discussion into whether and how far mark-to-market accounting should be used for companies' financial products holdings, such as securities and derivatives, as well as corporate pension fund accounts.
+In mark-to-market accounting, unrealised gains or losses from financial products holdings must be stated in balance sheets and included in income statements.
+In GPE, financial products are fundamentally appraised according to the cost of purchase, and only realised gains or losses need to be posted when positions are closed, regardless of the size of the open position a corporation is holding.
+Growing financial assets at NORP corporations and a series of trading fiascos by NORP firms in DATE has prompted NORP authorities to set tougher accounting rules.
+At DATE, securities holdings at NORP corporations, excluding financial industries, totalled MONEY (MONEY) based on book value, accounting for PERCENT of their total assets, ORG's ORG said.
+This compared with MONEY (MONEY) of securities holdings at DATE, which accounted for PERCENT of their total assets.
+Huge losses stemming from securities and derivatives trading have raised criticism for lax NORP corporate risk management and accounting methods.
+DATE, NORP trading house ORG announced it had lost MONEY through unauthorised trading in copper futures.
+DATE, ORG said it lost MONEY in unauthorised bond trading at its now-closed GPE office.
+The ORG also announced DATE that it would tighten rules on corporate disclosure, highlighting that corporations will have to disclose unlisted derivatives trading such as swap trading, based on market prices, beginning in DATE.
+Listed derivatives, which are already calculated at market values, cover futures and options traded at the securities exchanges. Unlisted derivatives include swap trading such as interest-rate swaps.
+The new rules do not affect corporate balance sheets, but disclosing the data is a step towards introducing mark-to-market accounting for financial products holdings.
+GPE is working toward using international standards, said PERSON, general manager at ORGamp; Economics.
+""I expect GPE to introduce international accounting standards by DATE, as ORG, and ORG of GPE have stated their support for the ORG process in setting international accounting standards,"" ORG said.
+ORG, ORG, has been working out principles of international accounting rules that can be applied in consistent ways in different countries.
+It is expected to complete the process by DATE.
+ORG, comprised of governmental securities authorities, including GPE, decided in DATE that it would take steps towards accepting ORG accountancy proposals.
+Sonoda said, however, it was still unclear how far GPE would go in adopting mark-to-market methods in securities holdings and derivatives trading.
+GPE basically uses the mark-to-market appraisal for securities holdings.
+Sonoda says if international accounting standards follow the GPE method, the impact would be enormous on NORP corporations.
+""NORP companies own huge amounts of stocks in unique cross holdings, and they have massive unrealised profits on those holdings as they bought the shares a long time ago at cheap prices.""
+If those hidden profits are appraised in balance sheets, the boost in assets would deteriorate the return on equity (ROE) at NORP companies.
+ORG is a common financial yardstick, showing how efficiently a company is using its capital.
+""This may reveal how poorly NORP companies make use of shareholders' capital..."" Sonoda said.
+Currently, the ORG for NORP companies is PERCENT, compared with PERCENT for GPE companies.",1
+"NORP engineer PERSON ASA has set its sights on increasing its LOC portfolio in DATE where burgeoning economies are taking on more sophisticated technology, a senior official said on DATE.
+""Our turnover would be up by PERCENT in DATE, and PERCENT (of the increase would be) generated by LOC,"" said PERSON, chairman and managing director of ORG, the group's corporate development arm.
+Total turnover in DATE would hit MONEY, of which PERCENT would be generated from LOC, Fletcher said in an interview. LOC made up PERCENT of the company's DATE turnover in DATE, he added.
+PERSON's DATE results in DATE showed a sharp PERCENT fall in pre-tax profit to CARDINAL crowns on turnover of MONEY crowns.
+PERSON, GPE's ORDINAL largest listed company and an employer to CARDINAL worldwide, took over NORP conglomerate PERSON in DATE and moved promptly to integrate PERSON's engineering and construction units.
+Its new organisation framework revolves around CARDINAL core areas of shipbuilding, process engineering, oil and gas engineering, construction, metals and pulping.
+Fletcher said PERSON's business was currently very strong in GPE, GPE, GPE and GPE.
+PERSON's involvement in GPE goes back DATE and partook in developing the country's steel industry over DATE, Fletcher said.
+On hand now are CARDINAL projects in GPE -- spanning industrial hardware, power generation, and steel for mostly joint venture companies led by international shareholders -- worth MONEY, and the amount was set to increase to MONEY in DATE, he said.
+The company is eyeing a tender expected to open by end DATE to build hydro-turbine engines for the giant ORG dam project, which would be awarded at DATE.
+""PERSON is involved in a (proposed) consortium on ORG whereby the ORDINAL set of turbines would be manufactured by PERSON and the ORDINAL set would have local manufacturers involved,"" PERSON, business development manager said at the interview.
+Fletcher dismissed GPE's ongoing austerity measures and credit clampdown as ""cyclical"" and believed the country was now poised to move to some ""good years"".
+The company also has CARDINAL orders on hand in GPE and is involved in building a MONEY, QUANTITY per year facility in GPE to produce refined copper wire that is scheduled to come on stream in DATE, Fletcher said.
+-- GPE NEWSROOM (CARDINAL) DATE","The future leader of GPE said on DATE he would discuss the legality and funding of the territory's controversial post-colonial assembly with GPE's legislators during his visit to GPE DATE.
+""I will discuss with ORG) the legal status of the provisional legislature, and also find out more on the arrangements for its funding,"" PERSON told reporters after a public function.
+The former shipping boss did not say whether he would ask the NORP parliament to pass a law to endorse the existence of the provisional legislature, which was formed on DATE in GPE's southern city of GPE.
+Tung had previously said he may ask the ORG to enact such legislation if the need arose.
+GPE and the pro-democracy movement in GPE say GPE's installation of the provisional legislature is illegal under the DATE ORG-registered PERSON, which sets out the framework for the colony's returns to GPE.
+GPE, upset by GPE Governor PERSON's electoral reforms in the twilight of NORP rule, set up the legislature to reverse these reforms when it resumes sovereignty of the colony at midnight on DATE.
+The interim chamber was chosen by a CARDINAL-strong ORG, hand-picked by GPE. The committee also selected PERSON to succeed PERSON.
+Tung has said the provisional legislature would soon hold its ORDINAL meeting. However it will meet in GPE, not GPE, in order to avoid a legal challenge by the colony's ORG. The territory's biggest pro-democracy group says it is constitutionally illegal to have CARDINAL legislatures operating at the same time.
+Tung said he would try to persuade the NORP to accept the provisional body during a meeting with them DATE. ""The provisional legislature has the right to exist. I hope that everyone ... can accept it,"" he said.
+The chief executive-designate also said he would hold talks with NORP officials during his DATE visit to the NORP capital, but would not be more specific.
+Tung visited GPE on DATE for the ORDINAL time after his selection as Chief Executive and was received by President PERSON, Premier PERSON and Foreign Minister PERSON.",1
+"The NORP government has cleared the way for state-owned ORG to buy ORG long-haul passenger jets from the United states, as well as similar planes from NORP-based ORG, an official source said on DATE.
+The source told ORG the clearance would come when the airline's board members meet on DATE to decide on its fleet acquisition after reports that the government would insist that the NORP flag carrier should get all its long-haul needs from NORP-based ORG.
+""We are inclined to a balanced solution between ORG and ORG,"" said the source on DATE, speaking on condition of anonymity. ""There should an agreement DATE.""
+The business newspaper ORG reported earlier on DATE that a committee of the ORG board was expected on DATE to recommend purchase of CARDINAL ORG PRODUCT ORG PRODUCT jets for its long-range fleet,
+CARDINAL other sources close to the talks said the split purchase was expected to be approved.
+Transport minister PERSON had so far been pushing airline chairman PERSON into buying exclusively from NORP-based ORG, rather than mixing the purchase with archrival ORG, industry and union sources have said.
+Apart from the symbolic value of the NORP flag carrier, which has received MONEY (MONEY) in state funds, buying a NORP-made product, the ORG PRODUCT and ORG CARDINAL are considered by some in the aerospace industry to be competing products.
+But a crucial factor in GPE's decision to press ahead with the ORG buy was a previous order for CARDINAL PRODUCT and CARDINAL PRODUCT aircraft due for delivery DATE. ORG said a clause in the sale contract allowed conversion of these planes to other types.
+That order was worth MONEY and ORG would now like to use the option to convert to ORG 777s. Otherwise it stood to lose its deposit if it reneged on the deal to buy the smaller planes, a ORDINAL source familiar with the talks said.
+A ORG spokeswoman said ORG had met PERSON on DATE to explain the company's position.
+ORG and ORG declined to comment.
+An aerospace executive said the cost of introducing to the fleet a new plane such as the giant CARDINAL twinjet would be MONEY and mean a broader range of aircraft to maintain, and therefore increasing costs.
+The industry will look carefully to see whether ORG will place orders or options on its aircraft, as the airline could use a conversion option for a planned ""stretched"" version of the ORG A340, termed the A340-600, and thus become a launch customer for the programme.
+ORG has made studies of the A340-600 a top priority, as it would boost capacity to CARDINAL passengers in CARDINAL classes from CARDINAL in the current CARDINAL version. The new plane would rival the ORG PRODUCT, which seats CARDINAL amd CARDINAL, and older models of ORG's cashcow, the PRODUCT jumbo.
+ORG currently enjoys a monopoly in the large capacity segment, which ORG is determined to rival with its own products.
+ORG already flies the A340, which is a long-range, wide-body aircraft. ($MONEY NORP Franc)","Construction group ORG has emerged as the latest contender in the NORP telecommunications arena with its joint bid with GPE's STET to run the telephone network of rail operator SNCF
+Bouygues follows the larger ORG, which DATE announced blue chip partners for its ORG telecoms unit, and the state-owned RATP ORG operator which set up a unit to exploit its QUANTITY of track.
+The stock market cheered ORG' alliance with STET and marked its shares up PERCENT to MONEY on DATE.
+The new entrants are seizing on the opportunity presented by the breakup of ORG domestic monopoly from DATE, under ORG competition rules.
+Although both ORG and ORG currently run mobile telephone businesses, their ambitions run higher. They want a major slice of the profitable long-distance call market and the high-value business networks.
+ORG chairman PERSON wooed analysts recently with bullish growth forecasts for the telecoms sector and said he expected ORG to contribute PERCENT of group sales and PERCENT of cashflow by DATE.
+Which leaves ORG of the CARDINAL NORP major utilities and services company firmly wedded to pursuing communications rather than telecommunications.
+""Our strategy is communications, not telecommunications,"" said a PERSON executive.
+Analyst PERSON at broker ORG said, ""Communications is not at all in the same league as telecommunications. It does not have the same scope but it can be profitable.""
+Communications, if it offers less spectacular potential, also holds less scope for risk, she added.
+The group's communications interests, grouped around its ORG unit and CARDINAL television stake, had DATE sales of MONEY and contributed CARDINAL in net profit.
+The profit came from its PERCENT stake in the Metropole Television M6 unit, which reported a ORDINAL half net profit of MONEY, up PERCENT from DATE.
+But ORG, which runs its cable television operations, made a DATE loss of MONEY.
+The cable business, with CARDINAL subscribers, is close to breaking even DATE and depends on getting CARDINAL more customers, a source close to the company said.
+PERSON owns PERCENT of ORG, with ORG holding CARDINAL and GPE West with PERCENT.
+Lyonnaise executives declined to give sales or cashflow forecasts for its communications business but said most of the investment had already been made and it was adding services to the existing infrastructure.
+-- GPE newsroom +33 CARDINAL DATE pnt/cct",1
+"ORG said in GPE on DATE that clients should be reassured that revelations of front-running by CARDINAL of its fund managers had prompted much greater emphasis on regulatory compliance.
+""Clients must look at this going forward,"" PERSON, chairman of ORG, told ORG. ""The important thing is to make sure you take the right action, and we've taken the right action.""
+A DATE probe by regulators in GPE and GPE uncovered a series of irregular trades by a former senior fund manager at ORG, one of LOC's largest fund houses with MONEY under management.
+GPE (IMRO) and ORG (SFC) in GPE said fund manager PERSON delayed processing deals, allowing for changes in the trading price. Some of the deals involved his personal trading account.
+In addition to the fines, PERSON agreed to pay the disadvantaged clients MONEY.
+""This incident was regrettable and we've expressed regret for it,"" Smith said. ""Clearly as a result of this incident we've conducted a major review and we have a new emphasis on dealing and compliance procedures.""
+The ORG said it revoked the registration of the chief executive at ORG in GPE, PERSON. It also issued a public reprimand to the company.
+""The ORG is committed to maintaining GPE reputation as an investment management centre in which bad practice will not be tolerated,"" SFC executive director PERSON said.
+GPE-based ORG (JFAM) was fined CARDINAL sterling and had its authorisation revoked, while CARDINAL GPE-based companies in the PERSON group were fined CARDINAL sterling each.
+The GPE-based companies delegated fund management to ORG in GPE, which the ORG said failed to facilitate investigation when misconduct was suspected and lacked an effective audit trail.
+""ORG's investigation has amply illustrated the danger of firms paying insufficient attention to the responsibilities that arise when they delegate business to another entity, whether in GPE or overseas,"" said PERSON, ORG's chief executive.
+PERSON was taking it on the chin, Smith said, but he noted that the DATE investigation identified problems with CARDINAL of CARDINAL fund managers.
+""I'm not seeking to minimise the seriousness of what happened, but I think it's important you're balanced,"" he said.
+PERSON has appointed a new chief operating officer at JFIM and a new head of compliance. The compliance section is being beefed up and centralised dealing structures are being created in GPE and GPE.
+""I think clients will understand that steps have been taken, and these do include a significant beefing up in the compliance system we have in place,"" Smith said.","Now that GPE's PERSON is dead, GPE faces a future without the figurehead who helped to assure the territory's confidence and stability, among the CARDINAL most important words in the investor's lexicon.
+As the architect of the ""CARDINAL country, CARDINAL systems"" policy, PERSON provided the framework that will guide GPE return to GPE on DATE.
+His open-door policy also transformed the territory's economy from an industrial and manufacturing hub into a service centre geared to GPE's emergence.
+PERSON's passing DATE was an important milestone for the city-state he helped to shape.
+The immediate impact of his death would be small, as the paramount leader's nuts-and-bolts involvement in GPE affairs was limited.
+But the longer term effect would be significant, particularly as GPE prepared for its DATE transition into GPE (SAR) of GPE, after DATE of NORP colonial rule.
+""To all intents and purposes, he was inactive but while he was there, his standing allowed large numbers of people to move and shake on the basis of his authority,"" said PERSON, author and director at ORG.
+""That is the biggest imponderable: to what extent could the people promoting economic reform become vulnerable.""
+ECONOMIC REFORM TO CONTINUE REGARDLESS
+Few doubt that the economic reforms PERSON initiated and upon which GPE depends so heavily will proceed.
+Too much change has already become entrenched, and GPE's growing number of jobless will require continued progress as the private sector, most of it built and supported by foreign investment, is the nation's only job creator, ORG said.
+That is a positive factor for GPE, which has been the primary investment gateway into GPE. In DATE, GPE accounted for MONEY of direct investment in GPE, or PERCENT of a total realised foreign direct investment of MONEY.
+Rising foreign investment also would imply increased demand for services, which would at least guarantee steady economic growth, albeit at slower rates than DATE.
+""We won't see double digit growth rates again,"" said PERSON, economist at GPE and ORG.
+""I would also not see growth slowing sharply, to say PERCENT, because GPE still has the backing of GPE. If GPE grows from PERCENT each year you can imagine the demand for services in GPE.""
+THE POLITICAL PACE OF CHANGE
+The pace of reform -- and of economic growth -- has always been a hot political issue in GPE, as has management of the industrial sector which is dominated by huge, labour intensive and debt-laden state enterprises.
+""There seems to have been a certain policy inertia. What will the next step be?"" asked PERSON, economist at the government-funded ORG.
+All eyes will be on GPE's ORDINAL ORG in DATE for signs of renewed momentum in policy-making and the collective leadership's commitment to change.
+""As that new domestic economic policy and particularly industrial policy emerges it will have implications for what GPE role will be for DATE or so,"" ORG said.
+GPE can rest assured that the role PERSON carved out for it DATE will remain intact for the time being, ORG said. GPE's absence of basic financial infrastructure, a reliable legal system or even property rights seems to assure GPE near-term future as the nation's investment gateway.
+But as GPE develops, the territory's role could diminish.
+""Its role over time is likely to become more modest,"" said PERSON. ""Over time, the mainland NORP economy and companies in the mainland in centres such as GPE will become more successful and the economic centres of gravity will shift.""
+GPE WARY WATCH ON SHANGHAI
+GPE is viewed with suspicion by many in GPE, who fear its rapid economic progress and close ties to the current collective leadership in GPE.
+""GPE has for DATE now been given priority by the NORP leadership as they tried to rebuild strength there but I don't honestly see that those commitments to help GPE to grow, will be in any way at the expense of GPE,"" said PERSON.
+GPE best scenario for the future will depend on a GPE that succeeds, but not too well, ORG said. ""If GPE really motors and gets really clever, it doesn't need GPE any more.""
+But ORG said GPE is going to need CARDINAL financial centre, CARDINAL port or CARDINAL major transportation hub.
+""Rather than a situation where they are competing head to head, it will be more a situation of how the CARDINAL can complement each other for the overall growth of GPE,"" he said.
+GPE MUST KEEP LOOKING OUT, NOT IN....
+ORG stressed GPE international role, partly because the world's trade structure is shifting more quickly than in the past. Production facilities are more mobile, flexible and integrated and GPE international exposure and expertise will remain crucial to GPE's success, he said.
+""The future of southern GPE depends on its ability to respond to those shifts and reorient activities into new product areas, or move up the technological ladder,"" he said.
+But there are other, more subtle concerns, including a common fear that GPE will plunder GPE coffers.
+GPE has pledged its support for GPE monetary independence, but economic tzar PERSON in the past has made frequent pleas to the wealthy coastal provinces in favour of GPE's poorer central areas.
+The price of plundering GPE would be high, ORG warned. International investors have committed MONEY so far in GPE, CARDINAL of which came through GPE. Actual investment from GPE is over MONEY, much of it from overseas NORP.
+""In theory, it's always posible but it would be a CARDINAL-off gift. Is GPE really going to cut off its nose to spite its face?"" PERSON asked. ""If it came in and scooped up the pot, what demonstration does that give to the overseas economy, and particularly the overseas NORP economy?""
+-- Hong Kong Newsroom (CARDINAL) 2843 6470",1
+"GPE in central GPE's GPE province is nestled in a lush, narrow valley dotted with whitewashed concrete houses, small cabbage patches and freshwater fish ponds.
+Ruddy-cheeked children peer out of ill-lit doorways while farmers steer belching tractors along dirt roads lined with orange trees, their verdant branches heavy with the bright, tart fruit.
+PERSON is much like any other village in GPE, except that it is scheduled to be wiped off the map by DATE.
+The village of CARDINAL people is just CARDINAL of CARDINAL of towns and hamlets that will be flooded by the silt-laden waters of LOC when the mighty waterway is diverted in DATE as part of the giant ORG dam project.
+""The total number of people to be relocated under ORG, those in submerged areas, is now CARDINAL,"" said PERSON, deputy general manager of ORG that is building the mammoth dam.
+""We are estimating there could be a CARDINAL or CARDINAL at most, taking into account the population increase during DATE of construction,"" ORG said.
+In GPE, site of the future dam, CARDINAL people have been resettled from the sprawling construction site that flanks the broad, snaking river, said PERSON, deputy director of ORG.
+Evacuation of the giant reservoir area -- to cover QUANTITY (QUANTITY) -- began in DATE and will involve moving CARDINAL people from GPE alone, PERSON said.
+LEAVING ANCESTRAL HOMELANDS
+The fates of CARDINAL of households in GPE and neighbouring GPE province were sealed in DATE when GPE ended DATE of debate to give the green light to start work on the gargantuan dam that is to harness the power of the world's ORDINAL longest river.
+GPE hopes the project, to be completed in DATE, will help to power GPE's economic charge in DATE and bring an end to disastrous flooding that has claimed the lives of CARDINAL people in DATE alone.
+Officials say they have run into opposition from many local residents unwilling to abandon their ancestral homes and traditional lifestyles.
+""There are residents who aren't willing to move,"" said PERSON, village chief of PERSON, which is just two km (QUANTITY) from the dam site.
+""It is understandable that they don't want to leave the homes their families have occupied for generations,"" she said.
+IDEOLOGICAL WEAPONS AND CASH CARROTS
+ORG officials have tried to combat anti-relocation sentiment by preaching traditional communist values of self-sacrifice while holding out cash and material incentives.
+""The magic weapon of our party is ideological work,"" said PERSON. ""We talk face to face with residents about the resettlement policies and compensation standards.""
+Of the project's estimated MONEY (MONEY) cost, MONEY has been earmarked to finance the resettlement, said He Gong, a deputy general manager of ORG
+Government work teams have fanned out through the countryside offering compensation to residents based on the size and quality of their houses and farms that will be committed to the watery mass grave.
+Total compensation for each family ranges from MONEY and those being resettled to rural areas are to receive parcels of land to build new houses on, PERSON of the resettlement bureau said.
+Blocks of apartment buildings have sprung up to house those moving into urban areas to be employed in factories or tertiary industries, PERSON said.
+Relocated families will also enjoy preferential charges for electricity, water and road use and will be allowed to make CARDINAL moving trips free of charge, PERSON said.
+If ethical campaigns and cash rewards failed to convince the stubborn to pack up, authorities could still resort to the force of law, ORG said.
+""In the resettlement process, if there is any case of... disrupting the public order that prevents the process from proceeding smoothly...it will be dealt with in accordance with punitive public security regulations,"" he said.
+($MONEY = MONEY)","GPE said on DATE it would support GPE efforts to expand foreign trade relations after the territory returns to GPE's control in DATE provided such ties did not undermine GPE's sovereignty.
+""We stand ready to support GPE in its efforts to expand foreign economic and trade relations... provided the state's sovereignty and interests are not undermined,"" the ORG quoted An Min, vice-minister of foreign trade, as saying.
+GPE would pursue a free trade policy to allow the free flow of commodities and capital after GPE resumes control of the NORP colony at DATE, An said.
+""We will fully support a high degree of freedom and openness in GPE status as an ideal arena for concentration and flow of international capital,"" he said.
+GPE would be allowed to formulate its own economic and trade regulations as long as such policies conformed with LAW, the territory's DATE mini-constitution promulgated by GPE, An said.
+""All the existing laws will remain in force, except those provisions that contradict LAW or those requiring amendments by GPE SAR (GPE) legislature,"" An said.
+A separate report in ORG said GPE businessmen would retain preferential tax status for investments on the NORP mainland.
+""After DATE, GPE's tax laws will not apply to GPE and GPE compatriots will be able to continue to receive the preferential treatment given to foreign investors,"" the newspaper said.
+GPE gives foreign investors lower tax rates than NORP companies and treats businessmen from GPE as foreigners.
+Foreign businessmen, however, are made to pay a whole range of fees that are not required from local businessmen. They also must hire employees through special government agencies, boosting their operating costs.
+The newspaper did not say whether these fees would still apply to GPE businesses after the transfer of power.
+NORP firms would not enjoy any priveleges when investing in GPE after the handover, An said, adding that mainland companies would be treated as overseas investors.
+""NORP enterprises shall follow internationally prevailing economic and trade rules and local 'rules of the game',"" An said.
+""The principles we are pursuing are fair competition, vigorous development, operation guided by law and enriching GPE,"" he said.
+GPE hit a raw nerve in GPE on DATE when it announced proposals to abolish a series of laws on democratic elections and civil liberties when it resumes sovereignty.
+GPE has tried to reassure GPE people they will enjoy considerable autonomy in running their affairs and maintain their free-wheeling capitalist way of life under the doctrine ""CARDINAL country, CARDINAL systems"".
+GPE has said it will dismantle the territory's elected legislature and has appointed a provisional one to take its place on DATE.",1
+"Engineers are investigating the cause of an engine failure aboard a ORG airliner on DATE which forced return to PERSON on CARDINAL engine, an airline spokesman said commenting on a report in FAC.
+The ORG PRODUCT and CARDINAL passengers had reached QUANTITY after take-off when CARDINAL of its CARDINAL PRODUCT CARDINAL engines suffered a suspected gearbox failure. The pilots could not restart the powerplant and decided to return to PERSON where the engine was removed and flown back to GPE for a detailed inspection, the spokesman stated.
+The suspect gearbox part has since been returned to the GPE for detailed analysis, a PRODUCT spokesman in GPE said.
+ORG has a fleet of CARDINAL ORG A330s which seat around CARDINAL passengers and carry up to QUANTITY of belly cargo on NORP routes. A spokeswoman for GPE ORG known as ORG, in which ORG holds a minority stake, operates CARDINAL R-R powered A330s.
+R-R is a long term supplier to ORG and since the Trent CARDINAL engine entered service with ORG in DATE, this is the ORDINAL recorded inflight shutdown, the ORG spokesman said.
+Industry observers say aircraft engines are now so reliable that mechanical failures are extremely rare.
+NORP rivalry for new engines, particularly for the next generation of the ORG PRODUCT family, exists between R-R and its GPE competitors ORGamp; ORG and ORG, the industry sources said. - Air Cargo Newsroom Tel+44 171 542 7706 Fax+44 171 542 5017","ORG (UPS) said the ORDINAL aircraft to use its MONEY LOC hub now under construction in GPE will arrive on DATE, PERSON, ORG director of engineering for LOC told ORG.
+He added that the ORDINAL phase of the hub at GPE's PERSON airport is due to formally open on DATE and is on schedule to be fully operational by DATE.
+CARDINAL ORG aircraft -- CARDINAL 747s, CARDINAL PRODUCT and PRODUCT -- are due to operate DATE in and out of GPE DATE a week from DATE connecting the GPE with the company's growing NORP network.
+The fast package carrier confirmed DATE that it had won traffic rights to operate CARDINAL frequencies a week from GPE. PERSON says other cities to be linked to the GPE hub are GPE, GPE and GPE.
+""The hub will enhance our service throughout LOC, make us more competitive and as this market grows we will have a reliable product and give a superior service. We have had very positive feedback from our customers especially in GPE,"" PERSON told ORG from his GPE office.
+With the CARDINAL aircraft, some brand new, the total investment in GPE will amount MONEY, ORG said. It added construction work on the ORDINAL phase of QUANTITY sorting office began DATE.
+The ORDINAL GPE-based aircraft due DATE will activate traffic rights awarded to ORG under the recent GPE-GPE bilateral agreement, allowing packages to be picked up at GPE's PERSON airport for distribution throughout LOC.
+PRODUCT Tel+44 171 542 7706 Fax+44 171 542 5017",1
+"NORP publisher ORG told its shareholders on DATE to expect a small rise in earnings as paper prices came back to earth and a recent cost-cutting drive started to pay dividends.
+At an DATE meeting which unanimously approved the group's name change to ORG, chairman PERSON said lower paper prices were boosting demand for printing work and that earnings from magazine publishing were also growing.  
+""I think it is fair to say it (profit) will be marginally up on DATE we have just finished,"" Cowley told reporters after the meeting in GPE.
+Cowley forecast a tough economic environment in GPE over DATE, ending DATE, but this would be partly offset by a continuing cost-cutting drive.
+""We have got to find more efficient ways of operating and that work has started and it will be continuing,"" he said.","If ORG of ORG does as expected DATE and votes to expand banks' non-banking activities, it will only heighten the drive in ORG to overhaul GPE banking regulations completely, analysts and industry officials said.
+The ORG is expected to vote to allow banks' section CARDINAL subsidiaries to derive PERCENT of their revenue from non-banking activities such as securities underwriting, up from the current PERCENT ceiling.  
+The section 20 proposal was released for comment in DATE, but since then another bank regulator has stolen some of the ORG's thunder. Comptroller of the Currency PERSON said his office will begin approving bank affiliates moving into an assortment of non-banking businesses.
+Both the ORG's proposal and the ORG's actions will raise the pressure on ORG to scrap the PERSON-Steagall Act, according to PERSON, director of economic studies at ORG.  
+In the past, banks led the charge to change the law because they wanted to get into other businesses, like selling insurance or underwriting stock deals. Insurance companies and securities firms generally opposed the banks creating legislative gridlock.
+""Now the tables have been turned,"" ORG said. ""But it's not a CARDINAL-way street. Other industries will want to level the playing field.""  
+Both moves also reflect current market realities. The financial services industry, from banks to insurance companies to mutual funds, is converging. Mutual funds already offer checking account-like money market funds and some of the leading stock and bond underwriters are commercial banks.
+In the words of CARDINAL top regulator, the ORG's move from PERCENT, ""is not material."" The ORG has required banks to take certain steps to prevent problems in the subsidiaries from affecting the bank itself, and its government-insured deposits.
+Competitors in other fields fret that the banks insured deposits are a form of government subsidy giving the banks an unfair advantage when they venture into other fields.
+Comptroller Ludwig disagreed. Speaking to reporters after delivering a speech here DATE, ORG said that walling off the subsidiary ""basically eliminates any subsidization.""
+He opposes efforts by some in ORG to keep banks out of certain fields, such as real estate or merchant banking, entirely. ""It's a mistake to set product limits, particularly in DATE and age when we have such a dynamic marketplace,"" he said.
+((--Aaron Pressman, CARDINAL-898-8312))",0
+"ORG is investigating whether to have a new GPE operations centre near the territory's new airport, its GPE and GPE area manager PERSON said.
+The proposed centre would be in addition to and complement the express freight centre now under construction at PERSON in which ORG has an equity stake.
+It would also be in addition to the firm's existing town centre base near PERSON airport and its satellite depots across the territory. ORG recently invested CARDINAL in a new automatic handling system able to process CARDINAL items TIME at its existing airport base.
+""It is a vital decision for our future and a huge involvement. We must make sure we make the right decision for us and for our customer's changing needs in the future. It is difficult and we are collecting as much information as possible on what our customers want,"" PERSON said.
+ORG say they have been approached by CARDINAL real estate developers offering green field sites or existing buildings for conversion in west GPE, a mainly industrial area close to the new bridge and motorway link to the new airport on GPE island.
+Other air cargo companies are also reported to be considering off-airport sites because they fear high building rents and staff relocation problems at the new airport.
+ORG says a viability study being conducted by a task force should be complete by DATE. - Air Cargo Newsroom Tel+44 171 542 7706 Fax+44 171 542 5017","ORG President PERSON said the MONEY personal computer industry must serve up more than just television-like features to impress its most demanding customers: DATE kids.
+In an opening speech at the ORG trade show in which he hailed the ORDINAL anniversary of the microprocessor which ORG invented, ORG demonstrated how PCs with his company's next-generation microchips will be able to deliver full-screen video with theater-like, surround-sound stereo.
+But, he said, this would only bring the PC to parity with the television as an entertainment device.
+The industry must focus on satisfying ""our most demanding users: DATE kids,"" he said.
+Using ORG chips and graphics technology from GPE-based ORGamp; ORG, ORG demonstrated how graphics could improve by DATE to provide a more lifelike ""flythrough"" down a quiet LANGUAGE village street.
+Demonstrating ORG's renewed emphasis on increasing consumer use of products based on its chips and technologies, ORG said the entire industry needs to focus on satisfying customers with aggressive output of new products.
+""My fear is that some day that (product) cycle might sputter,"" he told reporters after his address. The industry should aim to grow by PERCENT a year, as it has for DATE or more, he said.
+""Just as we are investing in technology for the long term, we need to target the new users of the future DATE.""
+This is particularly important as the cost of building a semiconductor plant has risen dramatically from MONEY in DATE to MONEY for its latest plant and will reach MONEY entering DATE.
+Grove said the industry must be prepared to meet consumers' expectations, including those formed DATE during which the television defined visual experience.
+""We are in competition for these consumers, for their dollars and their leisure time,"" he said, arguing that time especially was a ""finite"" commodity and computers needed to compete with TV for consumer share.
+Grove said there are CARDINAL as many personal computers as TVs installed worldwide, even though the numbers of PCs sold DATE is starting to outpace the number of new televisions sold on a worldwide basis.
+""In this war, he who captures the most eyeballs wins,"" he said. ""In our battle for eyeballs, user experience on the PC must not only meet the expectation levels set by TV viewing, it must exceed them.""
+Grove projected that microprocessors could by DATE be capable of holding CARDINAL transistors and CARDINAL instructions per second, or ORG.
+Grove said these advances are possible with current technology. Microprocessors are the semiconductors, invented by ORG engineers in DATE, which serve as the brains of personal computers.",0
+"ORG justices DATE sharply questioned rules governing so-called derivative investments and foreign currency trading in a case that could have wide repercussions for both markets.
+ORG has traditionally prosecuted crooks who ripped off the public with fraudulent investments. But sophisticated investors such as big banks have been allowed to trade similiar financial instruments with little direct regulation, market participants said.
+That distinction has been blurred in DATE, as defendants accused of fraud by the ORG have sought to rely on an exemption from regulation, relied on by the bigger players, in a DATE amendment to ORG.
+The amendment was added at the request of ORG to ensure that sophisticated investors trading in foreign currency and a few other markets would not be subject to uneccessary regulation by the ORG.
+Lower courts have made conflicting rulings about the DATE amendment and ORG decided DATE to hear the case of PERSON, a foreign currency investment advisor charged with fraud by the ORG after losing MONEY of his clients' money.
+PERSON, assistant to ORG -- the federal government's representative before ORG -- defended the ORG's prosecution of ORG before the court DATE. Minear argued that the DATE exemption for ""transactions in foreign currency"" did not cover PERSON's trading in foreign currency options, CARDINAL type of derivative. A derivative is an investment whose value is derived from a stock, bond, currency, commodity or other instrument.
+But justices questioned GPE's distinction, which relied heavily on the particular meaning of the word ""in.""
+ORG was ""not using consistent language"" in the commodity laws passed in DATE and since then, Justice PERSON said. ""They use in, they use on, they use involving.""
+Minear drew a sharp rebuke from Chief Justice PERSON when he later argued that ORG expressed greater concern about fraudulent use of options than other types of investments under a DATE commodity trading law.
+""Perhaps it was true in DATE but that doesn't prove it's true now,"" the chief justice interjected.
+PERSON, ORG's lawyer, argued that other federal agencies such as ORG might have jurisdiction over fraudulent foreign exchange trading but not the ORG.
+Several Wall Street trade groups and big banks filed friend-of-the-court briefs in support of ORG's position. They warned that if the court upheld the ORG's position, the burden of additional regulation might drive the gigantic MONEY a day foreign exchange market in GPE might overseas.
+On the other side, GPE futures exchanges said they could be put out of business by unregulated competitors if the court throws out the ORG's case against ORG.
+PERSON, chairwoman of the ORG, attended the argument but declined to comment afterwards.
+A decision is not expected for DATE. Several members of ORG have said they may introduce legislation DATE to change the DATE amendment, possibly rendering the verdict in the PERSON case moot.","Technology stocks rose DATE on a growing belief that recent price-cutting has spurred holiday personal computer sales as money managers loaded up on stocks to dress up their portfolios at DATE.
+Traders and analysts said the rally was sparked by positive comments from a ORG analyst about ORG, and waning fears that DATE would be a dismal one for makers of PCs for consumers.
+Soundview Financial analyst PERSON upgraded his short-term rating on ORG to buy from hold and continued to recommend buying the stock for long-term gains.
+His recommendations on technology stocks hold strong sway among institutional investors.
+The enthusiasm swept up other PC makers like ORG and spilled over to other top technology names.
+ORG rose MONEYMONEY on ORG while ORG added $MONEY to $MONEY on ORG.
+Leading ORG's most actives was ORG, which added $MONEY to $MONEY, ORG, up $MONEY to $MONEY and ORG, which gained $MONEY to $MONEY.
+The Nasdaq composite index, laden with technology stocks, jumped CARDINAL points to CARDINAL, a gain of PERCENT compared with a rise of PERCENT for the Dow Jones industrial average.
+""It looks like they're going after the group again,"" said CARDINAL trader, pointing in particular to ORG, ORG and ORG.
+""They are just buying the techs in a dramatic way again,"" agreed another trader. ""The PC scare isn't what they thought it would be,"" he said.
+Both ORG and ORG shares had reached DATE highs in DATE, only to fall back in end-of-year profit-taking and a broader market downturn.
+PERSON, director of global stock trading at ORGamp; PERSON said, ""It's a group move ... we're coming to DATE and these are big (institutional) holdings.""
+""ORG and ORG, I think have sold here over DATE, and whatever had to be done has been done,"" he said, which laid the groundwork for institutional buyers to add to their holdings.
+""All (these) stocks are in a DATE window-dressing rally,"" said PERSON, chief investment officer at ORG, who concurred that several of these stocks had been oversold in DATE.
+""ORG is the one all the money managers want in their portfolios,"" GPE said, referring to the desire to put the best face on their end-of-year report cards by which investors judge a fund's relative performance.",0
+"Shareholders in NORP conglomerate ORG overwhelmingly approved the group's final plank of its ambitious CARDINAL-way demerger on DATE, clearing the way for its ORG division to be spun off on DATE.
+PERCENT of shareholders voted for the motion, ending an era of wheeler-dealing that created GPE's once mighty conglomerate which, under takeover king Lord PERSON and his late partner Lord PERSON, became a star performer in DATE.
+But with a stock market that showed its mistrust of conglomerates by sharply marking down their shares, ORG DATE announced that it would tear itself up into separate tobacco, chemicals, energy and building companies.
+""I am very pleased with the outcome of the meeting,"" ORG chairman PERSON told ORG after the shareholder vote on the final demerger of ORG and a share consolidation.
+""And I am personally very excited about the prospects for ORG in the future.""
+Energy, which will be listed in GPE and GPE, has said it is already mulling a string of acquisitions in GPE and LOC, which some analysts say could be worth QUANTITY MONEY (MONEY).
+PERSON also confirmed that the group was still in acquisition talks with a GPE power marketing company.
+The group, which is expected to start with a market value of MONEY and is being sold with MONEY of debt, will be large enough to rank among GPE's biggest FTSE CARDINAL blue-chip companies and GPE's WORK_OF_ART.
+PERSON dismissed speculation that Energy would embark on a further sub-demerger of its CARDINAL main components -- PERSON Peabody Coal and GPE's largest regional electricity company ORG -- referred to by CARDINAL shareholder as an ""unhappy marriage"".
+""No, I have had enough of demergers and I think (the CARDINAL) fit very well together,"" he told the shareholder meeting.
+Energy executives want the company, which says its year dividend will be an indicative MONEY, to be viewed as a growth stock rather than a utility.
+Peabody is the world's largest private coal producer -- still a cheaper fuel than gas in the GPE -- and ORG is the only fully integrated electricity and gas company in GPE and GPE.
+""Energy will be substantially cash generative until it starts making acquisitions,"" noted PERSON, electricity analyst at brokers PERSON.
+The demerger will give shareholders CARDINAL Energy share for every CARDINAL existing ORG shares held. CARDINAL shares in the remaining ORG group will be consolidated into CARDINAL new share at the same time.
+ORG's ORDINAL CARDINAL demergers, of GPE's ORG and ORG, took place DATE.
+Unofficial grey market trading has already begun in both Energy and the new ORG shares ahead of the split.
+Energy saw its shares trade at MONEY, a loss of MONEY on DATE, while new ORG shares, the rump building group that retains the old household name, were quoted at MONEY, a loss of MONEY.
+PERSON, who newspapers say takes home a basic pay package of QUANTITY DATE, also fielded questions from CARDINAL shareholders who said they were ""nauseated"" and ""aghast"" at the executive pay and bonus packages that company directors awarded themselves.
+He said that long-term incentive plans, geared to total shareholder return, ensured that executives only got paid what they deserved.
+($ = MONEY)","Angry NORP businesses expressed dismay on DATE after news of another overhaul of telephone prefixes in what is promised to be the final phase of a search for ""future proof"" phone numbers.
+Telecommunications watchdog ORG announced plans to create CARDINAL of new numbers, although GPE has barely recovered from ""PhONEday"" in DATE, when the last batch of new numbers was created and CARDINAL of old ones were made obsolete.
+""These changes mean more disruption and cost to businesses,"" said PERSON, chief executive of ORGamp; Industry. ""...business is bound to be lost because of customers ringing the outdated number.""
+PhONEday cost telecoms giant ORG alone MONEY (MONEY).
+Each time numbers change, companies have to pay MONEY in notifying business contacts and to change stationery and logos on delivery vans and shopfronts.
+GPE dialling codes will now be lengthened by a uniform CARDINAL prefix in DATE. The current GPE codes of DATE and 0181 will be shortened to CARDINAL and 8, respectively, to be dialled after CARDINAL.
+GPE, ORG (GPE) and the southern LANGUAGE coastal cities of GPE and ORG will also each get a new prefix starting with CARDINAL. Prefixes of CARDINAL are being kept for future generations.
+In an attempt to quell mounting anger and confusion, ORG director general PERSON, who was once memorably quoted as saying he was ""not very good"" at forecasting demand for numbers, pledged the new plan would be robust and flexible.
+""By DATE we will have completed transition to CARDINAL of the most clear, flexible and customer-friendly numbering schemes in the world,"" he said.
+But the opposition ORG called for his suspension pending an inquiry into what it called a renumbering ""shambles"".
+Labour consumer affairs spokesman PERSON said ORG had ignored advice that DATE would not create enough new numbers and another costly upheaval would be needed.
+""Sadly this was ignored. How can the public have any confidence that Mr Cruickshank has got it right?"" he asked.
+Perhaps surprisingly, ORG has backed ORG's new attempt to solve the problem of surging demand for telephone numbers. Cruickshank also drew praise from ORG, a professional consumer group, which said the old system had lacked logic and structure.
+A range of numbers with the prefix CARDINAL will be reserved for corporate use, so companies can move around the country without changing numbers -- or just keep one number for all sites.
+Mobile, paging and personal numbers are set to take the prefix CARDINAL by DATE, special freephone and local rate services will have the prefix CARDINAL and premium rate numbers will adopt CARDINAL by DATE.
+Nevertheless, Cruickshank voiced uncertainty about long-term future use, musing: ""If you star-gaze way into DATE I have a sneaking suspicion e-mail and voice recognition may well replace numbers.""",1
+"Weak metals prices will undermine DATE earnings for many NORP metals producers, analysts surveyed by ORG said.
+""In most cases, we'll see they're going to be down, either year over DATE or DATE,"" said PERSON, analyst for ORG. ""Metal prices are down a long way and volumes in some cases are down too. The conditions are not as good as they were DATE.""
+Copper is in the doldrums after having fallen sharply since DATE, while nickel and aluminum have slid steadily.  
+Gold has been anemic, hovering MONEY an ounce.
+""It's not going to be a buoyant trend,"" Mallory said. ""Most of them are going to be reporting profits, but there will be a few losses as well.""
+Earnings in the mining sector were disappointing in DATE and dropped off in DATE when the copper scandal at GPE's ORG sent base metals downward.
+DATE will be even worse, said base metals analyst PERSON with ORG. He estimated earnings would be PERCENT lower than in DATE.  
+""The more leverage you have to copper, the bigger the loss,"" he said in a phone interview.
+ORG led the way on DATE when it reported DATE net income of MONEY or US$MONEY a share, compared to MONEY or US$MONEY a share DATE.
+Most large gold companies hedge part of their production, curbing their exposure to the low gold prices of DATE, said PERSON.
+""But those who haven't much in the way of hedging are certainly suffering in the market,"" said Mallory.  
+Investors should keep their eyes on ORG, said PERSON, who predicted ""the earnings are not going to be great.""
+""You're going to have the impact of diluted earnings with the ORG purchase,"" he said. Inco, the western world's largest nickel producer, completed the MONEY takeover of ORG in DATE.
+The takeover, along with a DATE lockout at its GPE, GPE facility and a smelter out of commission in GPE, will hurt earnings.","PERSON global media group ORG reported a lower than expected ORDINAL half profit on DATE, but later told analysts it remained confident of a PERCENT profit boost for DATE.
+News said strong earnings from the hit alien movie EVENT and buoyant GPE newspaper sales helped drive up net profits before abnormals PERCENT to MONEY.
+But this was below analysts' expectations of a pre-abnormals net profit for DATE.  
+""Everyone's a bit disappointed,"" said CARDINAL senior ORG analyst who asked not to be named.
+PERSON, the head of equities at broker GPE, described the result as moderate.
+""It certainly wasn't a startingly good result. The market has made its judgment,"" he said. News' shares fell MONEY to A$MONEY in TIME after the result.
+""It's MONEY less than what the market would have liked and to still reach that (PERCENT profit growth) outlook, it's got to make up the difference in DATE,"" the ORG analyst said.  
+News had said in DATE when it posted a MONEY net profit for DATE that it expected strong movie and television revenues to increase profits by PERCENT in CARDINAL.
+PERSON repeated the forecast in DATE, but the group has been publicly tight-lipped about it since then and its DATE results were also lower than expected.
+However News reassured the analysts in a teleconference briefing after the ORDINAL CARDINAL result, saying that it was still on track for the PERCENT profit growth.
+The profit forecast was not in the formal release.  
+""They did say that they're still on track for PERCENT growth,"" another GPE media analyst said after the morning teleconference briefing between company officials and GPE and NORP analysts.
+Analysts said ORG officials were bullish about catching up in DATE and had pointed to the continued strong outlook for movies, GPE television and newspapers.
+Operating income from News' ORG unit surged to MONEY for DATE from MONEY DATE, due largely to EVENT.  
+""GPE results were led by ORG which posted a PERCENT gain in operating profits reflecting the continued success of EVENT,"" ORG said.
+Analysts said the re-release of WORK_OF_ART, among others, would help further boost movie revenues in DATE.
+""It's pure profit in DATE, whereas they had costs to write off in DATE,"" said another analyst.
+Strong revenues from News' ORG television network and its ORG stations would also help ORDINAL CARDINAL profits.
+""They did very well over EVENT and they've got a new hit with King of the Hill,"" said an analyst.  
+GPE newspapers would again perform well in DATE, analysts said. NORP newspaper profits rose PERCENT in DATE, with gains in circulation revenues at The ORG, the ORG and ORG.
+""All of the company's newspapers have maintained their dominant position in each of their respective markets, despite cover price increases instituted during DATE at both The ORG,"" News said.
+News said losses at its burgeoning NORP satellite broadcaster ORG were in line with expectations but no figures were released. -- FAC CARDINAL-2 373-1800",0
+"NORP authorities have closed their eyes to the booming illegal trade by domestic investors in foreign currency B shares and will not interfere unless the market becomes too speculative, analysts said on DATE.
+The B shares listed on GPE's CARDINAL stock markets, in GPE and GPE, were created to attract funds from foreign investors.
+But in DATE the vast majority of trading has been done by domestic investors who have opened trading accounts by various means in contravention of the rules.
+""The authorities have just closed their eyes to the issue,"" said an analyst with a foreign securities firm in GPE. ""It looks like they will just leave it alone, as long as the markets don't become too speculative.""
+Given the huge volatility of the B shares over DATE, it would appear the threshold of the authorities on the issue is high.
+GPE's B shares have risen PERCENT since DATE and GPE's B shares are up PERCENT in DATE, but with huge falls on DATE.
+Brokers have attributed the rapid rises and falls largely to rumours that the GPE authorities plan either to allow domestic investors to buy B shares or to reaffirm the ban.
+""The GPE ban is there, but GPE knows it is unenforceable,"" said another brokerage analyst. ""And the brokers want local people to buy B shares because turnover would be so low without them.""
+A broker in GPE said many domestic securities firms had opened B share trading accounts in GPE, while NORP individuals encounter no problem in opening the accounts, particularly in GPE, which is just across the border from the wealthy NORP colony.
+B-share trading is supposed to be restricted to people with foreign passports or residents of GPE and GPE, but the GPE and GPE exchanges are interpreting the rules with great flexibility, analysts said.
+""The GPE exchange handled it in an interesting way,"" said a broker in GPE.
+""DATE they required all B-share trading account holders to re-register, but all that they required was that people present a passport or a copy of a passport that didn't even have to be theirs,"" he said.
+Analysts have said the basic reason for the ban on domestic investors holding B shares is to prevent an outflow of foreign exchange as foreign investors sell their holdings to local people.
+But the announcement on DATE that ORG would become fully convertible on the current account this DATE was taken as a sign by traders that DATE was approaching when the ban on B share trading by locals would be dropped.
+The GPE B-share index rose PERCENT to CARDINAL points on DATE on the news, brokers said. ORG shares closed up PERCENT to CARDINAL.
+""It is pretty hard for the securities regulators to curb the inflow of money from mainland NORP into the GPE B market because GPE dollars are so easily available here due to the proximity to GPE,"" said CARDINAL GPE analyst.
+""I believe more and more NORP will put their hard currency into the market after DATE when GPE reverts to NORP rule,"" he added.","ORG will investigate drug kingpins' alleged involvement in GPE's oil industry, a spokeswoman said on DATE.
+State oil company Ecopetrol and a foreign multinational said on DATE they had awarded MONEY service contracts to a company now thought to have been headed by suspected drug trafficker Pastor Perafan. But they said the contracts, some dating back to DATE, had been put out to bidding and there were no grounds for suspicion.
+In a congressional debate on DATE, PERSON, a former minister of ORG, said the once-powerful GPE drug cartel had tried to invest in GPE's oil industry in DATE as a way of laundering profits from international cocaine trafficking. She did not say which companies were involved.
+A spokeswoman at ORG said on DATE: ""An investigation will be organized. The process is likely to be a long one. It will begin with the formation of a special commission.""
+The current ORG minister, PERSON, is likely to launch the inquiry formally when he returns to address ORG on DATE, the spokeswoman said.
+Villamizar opened congressional debate on DATE on the possible renegotiation of association contracts between foreign oil companies and Ecopetrol.
+Mena's remarks, made during the session, took him by surprise. Afterward he told reporters he had not been aware of drug cartel efforts to muscle in on the oil industry but said he was concerned.
+DATE, PERSON magazine reported on PERSON's and ORG's business ties with GPE, a seismic surveying company in which it said fugitive businessman PERSON was the majority shareholder.
+The prosecutor's office issued an arrest warrant for PERSON at DATE. A spokesman at the office was unable to say on DATE whether PERSON, who is reputedly worth MONEY, was involved with PERSON. According to a recent report in GPE's influential news weekly ORG PERSON's investments include an oil pipeline project in the former GPE.
+An ORG spokesman said the state oil company had awarded CARDINAL contracts to GPE since DATE, including CARDINAL to carry out a seismic survey of the ORG field, a new find on GPE's eastern plains that may eventually rival the GPE and GPE fields.
+He was unable to specify the total value of the contracts but said they would have amounted to CARDINAL of dollars.
+Occidental signed just CARDINAL contract with GPE, worth $MONEY, DATE DATE.
+""When we had doubts about this company and after consultation with the head of police and the chief prosecutor, we canceled the contract. We do not want relations with any company that may be linked to narcotrafficking,"" the multinational's spokesman said.
+An industry insider said he did not think it likely that drug traffickers would have sought to launder money in the oil industry, saying that all transactions were strictly controlled by the government and Ecopetrol.",0
+"Adding to the controversy over the safety of automobile air bags, the federal government's auto safety agency said DATE it was stepping up an investigation into spontaneous air bag deployments in several ORG cars.
+ORG said it has received CARDINAL reports of air bags deploying without a collision in DATE-model ORG mid-size sedans, due to corrosion in the air bag sensing and diagnostic module. In each case, water was spilled or leaked onto the floor of the vehicle.
+The probe involves CARDINAL cars currently on the road, including the DATE ORG Lumina and PERSON, PERSON, Pontiac Grand Prix and ORG.
+In its DATE defect investigation report, ORG said CARDINAL of the ""inappropriate deployments"" resulted in injuries, but none resulted in death. CARDINAL of the CARDINAL cars were traveling QUANTITY when the bags inflated.
+News of the probe comes as the ORG is fielding growing numbers of calls from consumers worried about reports of  child deaths caused by air bags.
+Air bags have saved the lives of CARDINAL adults since DATE, said ORG spokeswoman PERSON. But with inflation speeds of QUANTITY, they also have killed CARDINAL children since DATE.
+DATE, ORG Director PERSON said the the agency advised that all children under the age of CARDINAL should ride in the back seats of cars and trucks equipped with dual front air bags.
+The agency raised that age after DATE WORK_OF_ART was killed by an air bag in a GPE, GPE, crash despite properly wearing lap and shoulder belts.
+The ORG is now considering several remedies to the situation, including an auto industry request to reduce the inflation pressure of passenger air bags.
+Other alternatives include requiring ""smart"" air bag systems that have the ability to detect the size and weight of the occupant and adjust inflation accordingly.
+In the probe of the ORG cars, ORG said all of the vehicles use an air bag sensing and diagnostic module that is located underneath the front passenger seat on top of the carpeting. It is not sealed, making it susceptible to moisture intrusion.
+ORG said owners of the vehicles reported that they:
+-- Spilled a glass of water on the vehicle floor.
+-- Drove through a car wash.
+-- Spilled a bucket of water on the vehicle floor.
+-- Spilled soapy water on the vehicle floor.
+-- Discovered a trunk leak in the vehicle.
+In addition, the agency said it was investigating CARDINAL other instances of unexplained air bag deployment, one when a driver was backing out of a driveway and another when the car was driving at QUANTITY.
+A ORG spokesman said the automaker was cooperating with the probe.
+The company also uses the same air bag sensor on DATE model versions of the same cars, but reported CARDINAL instances of airbag deployments due to corrosion.
+In CARDINAL case, ORG said the vehicle was apparently flooded by an ocean tide, and in another case, the entire rear end of the vehicle was severely corroded.
+The investigation was upgraded to an engineering analysis, in which the agency will examine and physically test the components in question.","With most of DATE results in, regional Bells are fulfilling their promise to build out more telephone lines, to put more new services on each line and to make more money doing it.
+Share analysts say the ORG and ORG show no signs of slackening demand and are preparing themselves well for the challenge of full competition in their local markets.
+""I would characterise DATE as a cause for celebration in just about every instance,"" said PERSON of Dillon Read, a long-time bull on regional ORG stocks.
+DATE saw results of ORG and ORG, following results on DATE from ORG and on DATE from ORG ORG and ORG report DATE.
+Earnings per share growth averaged PERCENT, ranging from PERCENT at GPE to ORG's PERCENT. All were within MONEY of analyst's ORG estimates.
+""Generally the bottom line results have come in as expected,"" said ORG analyst PERSON.
+DATE access line growth has averaged PERCENT, well above levels seen in DATE and DATE, boosted by demand for Internet access, home computers, facsimile machines and extra business lines.
+""The temporary scare the market had with ORG's line growth seems a CARDINAL-off,"" said PERSON.
+Ameritech saw a dip in line growth to PERCENT from PERCENT from DATE, but it followed a drop in advertising and seemed to reflect changed priorities, analysts said.
+ORG, which is being taken over by ORG, reported strong results which reflected a bounce-back in the GPE economy. The toll market, a problem area for the company in DATE, came good with stable market share and a PERCENT increase in revenues year-on-year.
+ORG said the market was absorbing competitive access providers (CAPS) like ORG, without hitting the ORG' growth.
+""Results show that the main business lines of the ORG are untouched in both price and volume by the ORG,"" he said.
+Nevertheless, ORG shares remained muted on DATE, with none of those reporting results moving PERCENT.
+The Bells have underperformed the broad market DATE, with analysts saying investors remain concerned about regulation and competition stemming from the DATE Telecom Act.
+This DATE's good news, in the shape of a legal challenge to ORG (ORG) jurisdiction over the pricing process for reselling local circuits to competitors, is still lost in the broader ORG worries.
+The ORG has to review the prices the ORG can charge for access to their local customers in DATE.
+""The cloud over these stocks, what has to be decided by the ORG on access charges, has still not lifted,"" PERSON said. -- GPE 212 859 1712",0
+"ORG and state-owned ORG (Unipec) on DATE announced settlement of a DATE foreign-exchange trading quarrel and resolved to get on with business.
+The MONEY dispute over currency and swap option trading had been broiling since DATE.
+The settlement means that only one of ORG's CARDINAL high-profile disputes with NORP state-owned companies remains to be resolved.
+A joint statement by ORG and ORG said only that their foreign exchange trading dispute had been resolved.
+""Unipec plays a vital role in GPE's economy as the largest importer of crude oil...with this situation behind us, ORG is keen to get on with developing our business in GPE,"" ORG said.
+Unipec returned the compliment, saying that it anticipated working with ORG in the future.  
+ORG filed a MONEY lawsuit in GPE in DATE claiming that the NORP trader had reneged on obligations over certain foreign exchange and swap transactions after incurring losses.
+Unipec had hit back with a counterclaim saying ORG had taken orders from certain GPE firms with which ORG was not affiliated
+""Unipec and ORG have come to a settlement agreement. ORG has cancelled the lawsuit, and we have cancelled our counterclaim,"" said a senior ORG manager by telephone.
+The quarrel brought unwelcome attention to ORG and illuminated the sometimes unorthodox ways in which NORP companies deal with foreign counterparts.
+Oil industry watchers said the case had hurt the reputation of the NORP oil trader, which was set up only in DATE, and it would be a while before it regained the confidence of its peers.
+""Damage has already been done to ORG, and it has been suffering especially in the GPE, with everyone asking for letters of credit when the case exploded...it's better for them to close the matter,"" said an oil trading manager with a major oil company in GPE.  
+Another oil industry observer agreed, saying ""it takes a while for people to accept them back.""
+Still outstanding is ORG's MONEY suit against GPE's Minmetals International Non-Ferrous Metals Trading Co, which arose in DATE in similar circumstances.
+Minmetals subsequently filed a MONEY countersuit, including CARDINAL counter claims of fraud, alleging ORG knew the investments were unsuitable for it.
+""We would love to reach a settlement (with Minmetals). We are now in negotiations and that's about it,"" a ORG spokesman in GPE said by telephone.
+ORG in DATE reached a settlement with the GPE branch of oil trader ORG, parent of ORG, of a MONEY lawsuit concerning losses incurred on MONEY of securities trades which the NORP firm refused to recognise.","ORG, the U.S.-Anglo auto components giant formed in DATE, announced a major restructuring DATE, including the planned disposal of CARDINAL non-core businesses and the elimination of CARDINAL jobs over DATE.
+LucasVarity said it had identified a range of additional moves that will mean an extra MONEY (MONEY) in profit benefits -- double the level anticipated DATE when the company was formed in the merger of ORG and ORG of GPE, ORGWorldwide employment will be cut by CARDINAL over DATE as a result of the moves, the company said.
+LucasVarity said it also will take an extra CARDINAL-time charge of MONEY (MONEY), mainly in non-cash items, along with MONEY (MONEY) in charges already planned for DATE.
+CARDINAL companies were identified for sale in a DATE post-merger review, although CARDINAL were named in the restructuring announcement -- all small businesses in GPE, GPE and GPE.
+Chief Executive PERSON said in an interview that the company was ""sifting through some offers"" and expected to be in ""active negotiations"" on the sale of some of the CARDINAL units quite soon.
+PERSON said major businesses like aerospace and electronics were not among the unnamed CARDINAL.
+The criteria for divestment were those firms which ""neither fitted into the core strategy of the company or contributed economic added value,"" PERSON said.
+PERSON, who came from ORG, said the post-divestment savings were ""virtually double"" original expectations.
+LucasVarity is involved in the design, manufacture and supply of systems, products and services in international automotive, diesel engine, aftermarket and aerospace industries.
+Both parties in the merger specialised in braking systems and industry sources expected that many of the measures would affect production and employment in these units.",0
+"CARDINAL people in GPE are infected with the HIV virus but many NORP still know little about the deadly AIDS disease it can cause, health officials said on DATE.
+GPE was at a critical stage in its fight against AIDS, but a campaign launched by GPE's communist leadership to promote ""spiritual civilisation"" -- or puritan Marxism values -- would help cut the cases caused by unsafe sex and drug use, the ORG said.
+Officials said they also planned to strengthen publicity to promote condom use.
+GPE's official total for the number of people infected with ORG (HIV) remained around 3,400.-- up from CARDINAL at DATE.
+But CARDINAL of other cases went uncounted, ORG official said.
+Experts estimated the actual number of HIV infections at CARDINAL people, she told ORG by telephone.
+GPE was continuing to clamp down on drug abuse, strengthen controls on blood for medical transfusions and boost anti-AIDS education and was currently holding a DATE national meeting on the disease in GPE, another ministry official said.
+Officials would launch a series of activities in DATE to promote awareness and knowledge of AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome), he said.
+""Many people do not even know how AIDS is transmitted,"" he said in a telephone interview.
+The HIV virus is transmitted through direct contact with the body fluids of an infected person and can be spread through sexual contact, transfusions of infected blood or the use of dirty needles by drug addicts.
+AIDS would not spread rapidly in GPE, although infection by all these routes was already occurring, the official ORG quoted Professor PERSON, vice president of ORG, as saying.
+""AIDS is spreading very fast in some neighbouring countries of GPE, and it is being transmitted through every possible method in our country,"" PERSON said.
+""GPE is at a critical point in its AIDS control, but some new measures will be adopted to slow down the spread of the disease,"" he said.
+ORG said the official count of people infected with HIV was expected to approach CARDINAL by DATE, but doctors have warned widespread misdiagnosis amd insufficient reporting mean the real total may have long since passed CARDINAL.
+Officials planned to set up a national AIDS control centre and improve monitoring networks. Regulations or laws on blood administration would also be published, ORG said.
+GPE's campaign to promote ethical progress, regarded by analysts as a bid to bolster the authority of the ruling ORG and boost socialist values weakened by economic reforms, would help in GPE's fight against AIDS, ORG said.
+Overseas experience had shown that condoms were an effective way to prevent AIDS and GPE had launched an experimental campaign to promote condom use in GPE in DATE, said the health ministry official.
+""The result was not very good,"" he said. ""Many people feel willing to use condoms if they are free... but not if they are sold.""","A bumper crop of results from the CARDINAL major NORP banks which start their reporting season DATE should take aggregate pre-tax profit comfortably MONEY stg for DATE from MONEY stg in DATE.
+Analysts also expect some of them to return surplus capital to shareholders, either in the form of share buybacks or generous dividend payments.
+Leading the way on DATE will be ORG which, despite trading at a big premium to the sector, is still favoured by analysts because of its business mix.  
+The bank's new chief executive PERSON is expected to give voice to his plans for the group as he takes over from Sir PERSON.
+ORG is expected to weigh in with over 2.4 billion stg in pretax profit and dividend per share of DATE, accompanied by the highest return on equity at PERCENT.
+Next on the agenda will be Barclays on DATE, when many analysts are expecting another chapter in its series of share buybacks. The bank has already spent over 1.0 billion stg on these in DATE.  
+Profits are expected to rise to a consensus expectation of MONEY compared to MONEY in DATE.
+Barclays is expected to show strong growth in businesses like ORG and consumer lending but its investment banking unit BZW, which has had DATE of upheavals, could disappoint.
+Barclays will be followed by the very different ORG, the GPE-based bank with a strong LOC franchise.
+Some analysts have cut their earnings estimates slightly but ORG's pretax profit is still seen rising to CARDINAL stg from CARDINAL last time.  
+Growth in consumer banking in LOC will be tempered by the decline in the dollar, a possible small upturn in costs and the sale of its profitable private banking unit DATE.
+A dividend of CARDINAL per share is seen after DATE.
+ORG, the other GPE-based bank with huge LOC interests and the most profitable bank in the group, reports on DATE.
+ORG, which brings together GPE's ORG, ORG, ORG, and PERSON in the GPE, is expected to post pretax profits of MONEY stg after CARDINAL in DATE.  
+Dividend per share is seen rising to around CARDINAL from DATE.
+ORG is also expected to have been affected by the recent strength of sterling but will show profit gains in all its regions and units, with analysts bullish for the potential still to be unlocked in LOC.
+ORG, unlike ORG, has a much stronger focus on investment banking and has spent a lot of money building up its ORG unit with several acquisitions and other investment.  
+This has led to nervousness among investors and the shares underperformed the rest of the sector DATE.
+ORG reports on DATE and is expected to post pretax profits of CARDINAL to 1.2 billion stg -- after disposal losses and exceptional asset write-downs -- and DATE dividend of DATE.
+Many analysts also expect a further repurchase of shares.  
+Finally, PERSON, in the news currently because of its bid for mutual life assurance firm ORG, reports on DATE and is expected to show pretax profits of CARDINAL to 1.16 billion stg (after CARDINAL in DATE) and a dividend of around 26p compared to CARDINAL.
+The Abbey's capital position has led to talk of a share buyback but the management is against this because of the large number of small shareholders on the register.
+A special dividend could be on the cards but most analysts expect the PERSON to continue its relatively generous ordinary dividend policy.  
+The figures are likely to have been helped by some growth in the mortgage market and by a good rise in consumer lending. -- GPE PRODUCT +44 CARDINAL 8864.",0
+"GPE lined up on DATE to pay its respects to GPE's dead leader PERSON.
+Colonial Governor PERSON was CARDINAL of the ORDINAL to be escorted inside the ORG, GPE's de facto mission in GPE, to offer his condolences. PERSON died late on DATE at DATE.
+""I have written to director PERSON, the head of ORG (ORG), expressing my condolences and of course if there is a condolence book opened I will want to sign that with the senior members of my administration,"" PERSON told reporters before going in.
+Asked if he would sent flowers, he replied: ""I don't think that would be appropriate.""
+There has been little love lost between ORG and ORG during PERSON's DATE tenure as DATE and last NORP Governor of GPE.
+GPE denounced PERSON as a political prostitute, a criminal for DATE and worse for spearheading democratic reforms in the twilight of NORP rule.
+GPE plans to undo his reforms by dissolving GPE elected legislature and replacing it with an interim appointed chamber.
+Patten was followed on DATE by the man who will step into his shoes when the colony is handed over to GPE at the stroke of midnight on DATE, now DATE away.
+Future leader PERSON, flanked by members of his inner cabinet, bowed CARDINAL times to a large black and white photograph of PERSON.
+GPE politically powerful billionaires and new generation of GPE politicians turned up in force and were reverently ushered in.
+An elderly couple, however, jumped the gun.
+They turned up TIME, before ORG had managed to make arrangements for mourners for the man whose reforms transformed GPE from a weak, impoverished nation to an emerging economic powerhouse.
+They were told to come back in the afternoon.
+CARDINAL demonstrators staged a brief protest against PERSON who they described as ""WORK_OF_ART"" for his role in the brutal crushing of the student-led pro-democracy movement centred on GPE's FAC on DATE.
+""CARDINAL man has just died, but so many are mourning for him. Don't forget the number of people who died on DATE,"" they said.","Shipping magnate PERSON made his ORDINAL appearance in GPE as GPE leader-in-waiting on DATE as GPE prepared the next milestone in the NORP colony's transition to NORP rule.
+In a DATE meeting on DATE in GPE, just over the border from GPE, GPE was endorsed as successor to colonial governor PERSON by the CARDINAL-member GPE-picked ORG, which is crafting the territory's political future.
+GPE hands GPE back to GPE on DATE.
+Tung, DATE, was selected as the post-handover leader in GPE on DATE by a separate CARDINAL-member body carefully assembled by GPE, smothering his CARDINAL rivals by winning PERCENT of the votes.
+At the ORG meeting in GPE, presided over by NORP Foreign Minister PERSON, PERSON was greeted with hearty applause, smiles and back-patting as he entered the hall.
+""We have already completed the selection of the ORDINAL Chief Executive of GPE... PERSON received the majority vote of CARDINAL,"" said senior NORP envoy PERSON, director of GPE and ORG.
+ORG Vice Chairman PERSON urged delegates to show their support for GPE's endorsement of GPE.
+""If you don't have any objection, then approve it by applauding,"" ORG said, prompting the delegates, who include some of GPE top business leaders, to begin clapping.
+In a meeting with reporters later, PERSON reiterated his hope that PERSON, GPE popular chief secretary and head of the civil service, would stay on as his deputy.
+""I haven't decided on my deputy, I hope PERSON will stay and I hope she can be my deputy,"" Tung said.
+Tung said he would also work closely with the current NORP-led government to promote GPE in DATE of colonial rule and ensure a smooth transition.
+Tung's selection was met with scuffles, anger and apathy on DATE in GPE, where pro-democracy activists and politicans denounced the selection process as undemocratic and condemned the magnate's appointment.
+In addition to endorsing PERSON's appointment on behalf of the GPE government, DATE's ORG meeting in GPE will also discuss a package of procedures for establishing a provisional legislature on DATE that will replace GPE elected chamber with the handover.
+The legislature plan has been strongly opposed by GPE pro-democracy groups, which see it as a move to crush freedom and introduce repressive laws.
+An official said the gathering was also expected to discuss a move by GPE to introduce a lenient anti-subversion law in GPE before the handover. A ORG legal sub-group has recommended repealing the NORP law.
+Tung has said he would take a hard line against meddling by provincial NORP bosses who may disregard GPE's edict that GPE be GPE with considerable autonomy in governing its own affairs.
+GPE ORG newspaper said GPE was expected to rank the future chief executive as equal to a state councillor.
+This position, CARDINAL level below vice-premier, would mean he outranks provincial governors and will help discourage interference in GPE affairs by regional cadres, it said.",1
+"GPE's cautious and much-delayed experiment with convertible bonds as a way of raising corporate funds is expected to move forward DATE with CARDINAL CARDINAL foreign currency issues, brokers and analysts said on DATE.
+NORP securities authorities have said on a number of occasions they want to conduct test issues of convertible bonds, which give holders an option to convert the debt into stock.
+Only a small handful of cases have been tried so far with very mixed results. But analysts said they believed authorities were increasingly taking a favourable attitude towards the concept of convertible bonds.
+This is reflected in the many listed NORP firms which have said in DATE they are considering or planning to launch bonds convertible into their foreign currency B shares, listed on GPE stock markets, or H shares listed in GPE.
+""The prospects for convertible bonds DATE look good,"" said a senior analyst with a foreign brokerage in GPE. ""I would say there could be CARDINAL issues in DATE. The process has been slower than expected, but GPE has a need for more funds.""
+""There's a lot of momentum on convertible bonds at present,"" said PERSON, general manager of PERSON in GPE. ""We've been pushing the concept with companies and officials and it's now taken on a momentum of its own.""
+ORG (CSRC) is believed to have received a pile of applications for such issues but is cautious about proceeding partly because of a number of unsuccessful past attempts at issuing convertible bonds.
+""China Textile Machinery's issue of convertible bonds, for instance, was a disaster,"" said the senior analyst. ""Nobody has converted the bonds to shares, so they have to pay back the money by DATE.""
+But a stock analyst in GPE said the market was ready to accept convertible bonds as a concept.
+""The overall financial environment has matured to the point where it's possible to look at convertible bonds. But the companies which issue them need to be relatively good to ensure they have the ability to repay,"" the analyst said.
+He said the prospect of convertible bonds as a means of raising capital is extremely attractive to GPE's listed companies because, unlike direct equity, it does not immediately dilute earnings.
+The latest NORP company to announce a convertible bond is ORGamp; ORG which said DATE it would issue MONEY of bonds convertible into the firm's H shares.
+Other companies that have indicated an interest include truck maker ORG and GPE-listed ORG
+But the experience of ORG indicates that there is risk involved in issuing convertible bonds for companies as well as for investors.
+""The advantage over a straight bond is that the company is placing a bet that it will be able to pay back with shares rather than cash. But there's a risk involved,"" said CARDINAL foreign analyst.
+""The authorities want to choose large, stable companies that are going to have the cash income to repay the bonds if the conversion proves difficult because of problems with the share price,"" he added.","GPE will open its domestic A share markets to overseas investors through NORP joint venture mutual funds DATE, a GPE newspaper said on DATE, but analysts predicted a cautious approach.
+Brokers and analysts in GPE said the long-awaited experiment in foreign investment in GPE's A share markets would probably involve only a handful of funds in DATE.
+The GPE-controlled GPE newspaper PERSON quoted the executive deputy governor of ORG, PERSON, as saying GPE will allow some foreign joint venture firms to invest in A shares from DATE.
+The newspaper quoted PERSON as saying regulations governing NORP-foreign investment funds would be issued soon.
+""Rumours on this have been circulating in the markets since DATE,"" said CARDINAL A share trader. ""It is certain that the regulations are under consideration, but a timetable has yet to be confirmed.""
+Officials at the central bank and ORG, the top securities watchdog, declined to comment.
+GPE's A share index surged PERCENT on DATE, partly on speculation that GPE was considering opening the A share market. It consolidated down PERCENT on DATE on a technical correction.
+Analysts said a major problem is the NORP yuan. While convertible on the current account since DATE, it is still a long way from full convertibility, and officials have given no hint as to the timetable for making it convertible.
+""Solving the convertibility issue is a major obstacle,"" said a broker with a NORP brokerage.
+""There are also no definite candidates for establishing the funds. In the initial stages, the impact will be more psychological than real,"" said the broker.
+An analyst with a foreign brokerage in GPE said the NORP would probably seek to establish joint ventures with GPE firms in the initial stages to learn from the highly developed and sophisticated GPE mutual fund industry.
+Without convertibility, it is unclear how foreign money will be exchanged for yuan to invest in A shares, and how funds being retrieved by foreign investors would be shifted back into foreign currency, analysts said.
+""The key issue is how much liquidity from the funds the authorities will allow to be invested in the markets,"" said PERSON, deputy general manager of the securities trading department of ORG.
+Traders said introduction of joint venture funds would help stabalise the highly-volatile A share markets and create a secure vehicle for long-term investment.
+""Funds from developed countries are often very large, seeking long-term investment,"" said a broker with ORG ""Their entrance into the market will alleviate a trend of excessive speculation.""",1
+"NORP media company ORG, boosted by a PERCENT DATE profit rise, said on DATE that it planned a drive into pay television.
+Carlton, the country's largest commercial television (ORG) company, said it aimed to build on its broadcasting strengths in the multi-channel future.
+""We want to build up our interests in pay television, both as a content provider and operator. These may encompass cable, satellite and digital television,"" chairman PERSON said in a statement.
+""Free television and pay channels should not be seen as competitors; they are complementary businesses...ORG wants to establish a significant presence in both markets,"" he added.
+Green was speaking as ORG unveiled a PERCENT rise in pre-tax profit to MONEY (MONEY) for DATE. ORG increased its dividend by PERCENT to MONEY per share.
+The figures were in line with analysts' forecasts but ORG shares fell CARDINAL to PRODUCT in a weaker market.
+ORG DATE agreed to pay MONEY for ORG, the ORG company which broadcasts to the south-western corner of GPE. It also operates the ORG licences for LOC and GPE DATE television and now broadcasts to CARDINAL people.
+Green confirmed that ORG was considering investing in digital terrestrial television, which is expected to be launched in GPE in DATE and offer viewers up to CARDINAL channels.
+""ORG will expand free-to-air broadcasting in the GPE and opens the door to the establishment of further pay television services. We are examining these investment opportunities very carefully,"" he said.
+ORG (ORG) recently invited applications to operate the blocks of frequencies which will carry the digital channels.
+Digital terrestrial will be broadcast from land-based transmitters and viewers will not need a satellite dish to receive it. They will, however, require a set-top decoder.
+ORG already has CARDINAL subscription cable channels in the GPE and pay television interests in GPE, GPE and GPE.
+Operating profits from ORG division grew by PERCENT to MONEY as advertising revenues remained flat. But the company said the outlook for advertising revenue was good.
+ORG's video division increased profit by PERCENT to QUANTITY as demand for pre-recorded videocassettes continued to grow.
+Its film processing arm boosted profits to MONEY -- a PERCENT jump -- as the GPE studios continued their policy of releasing movies to large numbers of cinemas simultaneously.
+The company's products division, aiming to become the world leader in tapeless editing for the television industry, increased profits to MONEY from CARDINAL.","The world's gold producers will likely pay dearly for the steep fall in the bullion price and the deep uncertainty overhanging the gold market.
+If the bullion price weakness continues or worsens, gold miners face lower profits, money-losing operations, closed mines, slashed exploration budgets and plunging share prices.
+Analysts predict smaller companies will be increasingly vulnerable to takeovers as industry conditions get rougher.
+""Earnings are going to be terrible,"" said gold analyst PERSON at FAC in GPE. ""There have already been some mines that have shut and there could be a few more. And consolidation is likely to continue.""
+Gold, which was fixed at $MONEY an ounce in GPE on DATE, has lost MONEY since the start of DATE, and few analysts believe the decline is finished.
+The low price has already taken its toll on NORP gold stocks, knocking ORG heavily weighted gold index down PERCENT since DATE.
+CARDINAL companies have announced shutdowns of marginal mines recently. GPE-based ORG said DATE it would close its PERSON gold mine in GPE. In DATE, GPE-based ORG said it would sell CARDINAL small mines in GPE and stop work at its high-cost Paymaster mine in LOC.
+""That can certainly happen again,"" said PERSON, mining analyst with ORG in GPE. ""The high-cost producers are certainly vulnerable.""
+The effect will begin to show in DATE earnings, and earnings in DATE will certainly reflect the low bullion price, according to analysts.
+If ORG predictions of an average DATE gold price of MONEY an ounce hold true, it could spell earnings trouble for many producers.
+ORG analyst PERSON predicted that GPE gold firm ORG earnings for DATE would drop to MONEY a share if gold averaged $MONEY. Homestake would earn MONEY a share at a gold price of $MONEY.
+Companies that do not hedge their gold sales -- such as ORG, ORG and ORG -- were especially vulnerable, PERSON said. Other analysts mentioned ORG and ORG as prime victims of a lower price.
+""A surprisingly large number of these companies are marginal -- companies that you wouldn't traditionally think of being marginal producers,"" he said.
+Companies that rely on the spot price of gold ""are fully exposed to a decline in the gold price,"" PERSON noted. ""They're all either spot sellers or don't have significant forward selling. They'll all be negatively affected in terms of earnings and cash flow.""
+CARDINAL exception was U.S.-based ORG, which would likely see earnings rise in DATE because of projects ready to start DATE, he added. His projection did not take into account the potential acquisition of ORG..
+Even companies with solid hedging programs, such as GPE-based ORG, will likely find their share prices hit along with the gold price.
+""This is a sentiment swing,"" said gold analyst PERSON with ORG in GPE. Investors do not usually differentiate between hedgers and non-hedgers when the gold price starts to drop, he added.
+Although some analysts believe a few more marginal projects could bite the dust if the gold price stays low, most say the production effects of lower gold prices will become apparent in decisions to delay development.
+""Most of these companies will continue to produce as long as they are cash flow positive as opposed to earnings positive,"" said PERSON.
+But as earnings start to drop, CARDINAL of the ORDINAL casualties will likely be exploration budgets. While DATE exploration commitments have been made, high-cost companies could find themselves slashing any flexible plans in order to cut their losses.
+Exploration companies will become more vulnerable to takeover moves from larger companies with strong cash flow, analysts said. As the low price of gold discourages investors, junior companies will find it more difficult to raise money for exploration programs.
+""The capital is drying up,"" said analyst PERSON of ORG in GPE.
+The smaller companies may well see their share prices drop, making it cheaper for companies laden with cash to swallow them.
+GPE-based ORG a mid-tier producer, said it plans to take advantage of the sector weakness to expand.
+""I would classify us as a predator,"" PERSON spokesman PERSON said in an interview. ""We think we're in a very privileged position. We're in the kind of strange situation where maybe some of the bad news for the sector can be good news for us,"" he said.
+Gold equities in GPE may also be knocked down by lower gold prices, said analyst PERSON. But since many NORP companies hedge their sales, earnings will not be hurt as much as among some companies in LOC.
+In GPE, however, analysts expect DATE earnings to be trampled by low gold prices.
+In GPE, mining giants PERSON and ORG will probably not alter their expansion plans for polymetallic mines with high gold contents but will see slightly differing bottom-line impacts.",0
+"NORP utilities giant ORG on DATE posted higher ORDINAL CARDINAL profits and unveiled plans to reorganise its loss-making construction business, hammered by a depressed NORP market.
+Chairman PERSON told a news conference the company made a ORDINAL half net profit of MONEY (MONEY), after payment to minorities, up from CARDINAL DATE.
+He also forecast net profit for DATE would be MONEY after a net loss DATE of MONEY. The results would be ""strongly marked by exceptional items, notably capital gains from asset sales.""
+For DATE, GPE expected profits to be ""much higher"" than those of DATE and should be ""without doubt higher than the best profits the company has had in its history."" The company made MONEY net profit in DATE.
+GPE also announced ORG said it had made a formal bid on DATE with its NORP partner ORG to run the telecommunications operations of NORP state railways ORG. The CARDINAL companies want to bring ORG to join the bid.
+GPE, who came from an investment bank, was brought in DATE to clear out the group's balance sheet which had put on MONEY of debt and been savaged by a crisis in the property market and construction business.
+His ORDINAL step DATE was to reorganise the property arm, which he said on DATE had cost the group a total MONEY since DATE.
+The group expects to lose MONEY DATE due to poor property assets but that includes MONEY of exceptional charges which should wipe out any uncertainty for DATE, he said.
+""At DATE, ORG will not face any questions, even in pessimistic scenarios for DATE, on any exceptional charges which may arise from its property activities,"" he said.
+The group's George V property development arm aims to be profitable from DATE, he said.
+The group's average level of property provisioning was around PERCENT, of which assets in the LOC of GPE were provisioned at PERCENT at Cannes.
+This time round, GPE attacked the group's building and public works businesses which have suffered from the downturn in GPE and GPE. He has made its ORG subsidiary the centre of its construction activity.
+Into SGE will go the ORG and PERSON electrical installations units and roadbuilders WORK_OF_ART, Viafrance and SGE-VBU. And there will be a consolidation of building activity with SGE buying PERCENT of ORG (CBC), currently wholly owned by ORG.
+The new ORG, which will be ""radically different and attractive,"" have DATE sales of MONEY and will return to a significant level of profit in DATE, ORG said.
+ORG also expects to cut its debt by CARDINAL in DATE. It said it expected its net financial debt to stand at MONEY at DATE, down from CARDINAL in DATE.
+He said the company's operating profit would be close to the MONEY profit recorded in DATE.
+Turnover in DATE should be up PERCENT to MONEY, he added.
+GPE is deregulating its telecommunications in DATE, breaking the domestic monopoly of state-owned ORG to comply with ORG rules. ($MONEY French Franc)","Just as the submarine changed the face of naval warfare in EVENT, LOC's shipbuilders are hoping a new breed of ""stealth"" warships will do the same in DATE.
+At a trade fair at FAC airport, north of GPE, CARDINAL shipbuilders presented their own version of combat ships with the ability to hide and deceive the enemy.
+GPE's ORG on DATE unveiled its design for the futuristic PERSON corvette.
+""We believe it has the potential to make other vessels of its class obsolete,"" PERSON, ORG's manager of future projects shipbuilding, told a news conference at the ORG exhibition, which gathers the world's navies.
+BAeSema, a joint venture between ORG and GPE's ORG, presented its PRODUCT corvette on DATE.
+And NORP state-owned ORG shipyard presented its ORG frigate which it boasted was the ORDINAL operational warship fully to use stealth features in its design.
+Unlike DATE, designed for patrolling regional waters, the NORP ship is a full-scale deep-water frigate.
+Stealth warships use similar principles to the radar-beating technology developed by the GPE aircraft industry and used in the DATE EVENT against GPE. The diamond-shaped F117 and batwing B2 bombers were designed to absorb or deflect radar.
+Built in flat, angular shapes, stealth warships are ""platforms"" for weapons and detection systems.
+ORG uses a slab-sided superstructure and non-metallic materials to confuse radar. The ORDINAL of CARDINAL ORG-class ships ordered by GPE entered service DATE, while GPE has also ordered the NORP ship.
+The NORP are in hot pursuit with their own designs for a new generation of stealth vessels.
+""We believe this is the warship of the future and all warships will need to use these techniques,"" ORG PERSON said. ""We have made it difficult to detect, classify and engage with a missile,"" he told the news conference.
+LOC design puts the distinctive clutter of mast, radar dishes and aerials inside flat-sided towers and has shaped topsides, rather like diamond facets, to make it hard for radar to lock on. It also uses non-reflective composites.
+PERSON can alter its ""radar signature"" by lowering or raising the mast, making it difficult to recognise the craft. CARDINAL asymetrically-located masts are meant to confuse radar-guided missiles.
+To counter new infra-red, or heat-seeking, missiles, the ship sprays a fine mist of water to conceal itself.
+BAeSema is showcasing its low angular PRODUCT patrol vessel, which uses low-acoustic waterjet propulsion instead of traditional noisy engines which are easily picked up by sonar.
+The basic Cougar ""hull-in-the-water"", excluding weapons and other systems, costs CARDINAL sterling (MONEY), according to PERSON, the craft's designer.
+BAe DATE announced it was merging its naval systems activities into BAeSema, to boost its prime contractor role.
+Prime contractors bid for contracts in which integration of radar, communications and defence provide the added value.
+BAeSema would act as prime contractor while the ship would typically be built in the customers' own shipyards.
+""We're going for indigenous building and procurement, which would be a more cost-effective solution and involve ownership at an earlier stage"" PERSON said.
+LOC NORP delegations have shown interest in both the LANGUAGE and PERSON, company executives said. ""We view that part of the world as a very important market,"" PERSON said.
+Strong economic growth and regional rivalries particularly over natural resources and territorial waters have fuelled an arms race in LOC.
+NORP defence electronics group ORG is the prime contractor for ORG under PRODUCT 1 and CARDINAL contracts signed with GPE.
+($MONEY ORG)",1
+"GPE warned GPE on DATE that slowly warming NORP ties could be complicated if GPE decided to confront GPE on the issue of human rights.
+""If the human rights question is made into an issue to interfere in GPE's internal affairs, then this problem will become more and more complicated,"" ORG spokesman PERSON told a regular news briefing.
+""The NORP government cannot accept... using the human rights question to put pressure on the NORP government or to interfere in GPE's internal affairs,"" Shen said.
+Repeated clashes over human rights and issues ranging from GPE to copyright piracy sent NORP relations into a tailspin in DATE and DATE, and ties have only recently started to recover with a series of high-level official meetings.
+Differences in GPE and NORP views towards human rights were normal and could be resolved through talks, PERSON said.
+""But if you are confrontational then the basis for dialogue will be lost,"" Shen said in response to a question about GPE's reaction to comments by GPE Secretary of ORG-designate PERSON which slammed GPE's human rights record.
+PERSON said at her ORG confirmation hearing in GPE on DATE that GPE could co-sponsor a resolution criticising GPE's human rights record and present it before ORG when it meets in GPE DATE.
+DATE, GPE succeeded in quashing a U.S.-backed draft resolution at the commission expressing concern over continuing reports of NORP violations of fundamental freedoms.
+The human rights situation in GPE had not improved much since DATE resolution, PERSON said.
+But she said GPE's focus towards GPE would be on ""NORP integration, not isolation"" and that she still supported the separation of human rights issues from trade.
+In DATE, GPE President PERSON delinked DATE renewal of GPE's Most Favoured Nation trade benefits from GPE's human rights record, a move hailed by GPE.
+Secretary of ORG PERSON visited GPE DATE but made little public mention of human rights, in contrast to his DATE trip that ended in disaster because of wrangling over the issue.
+PERSON pledged not to allow NORP ties to be derailed by any single issue.
+PERSON met his NORP counterpart PERSON at FAC summit in the GPE DATE, when the CARDINAL leaders agreed to an exchange of state visits in DATE.
+GPE has criticised GPE for its imprisonment of political dissidents and for its heavy-handed rule in GPE but GPE defends its human rights record by pointing to rising living standards and booming economic growth.
+GPE jailed several prominent dissidents in DATE as part of its obsession with stability coupled with the easing of foreign pressure on its human rights record, activists have said.
+The official ORG said meanwhile that GPE and GPE had agreed to hold another round of talks DATE aimed at hammering out a new textile pact.
+The bilateral pact had been scheduled to expire on DATE but was extended until DATE amid progress on renewing the DATE accord. The talks will begin in GPE on DATE.","GPE said on DATE it would empower GPE courts to put on trial off-duty NORP soldiers after GPE resumes control over the NORP colony in DATE.
+The standing committee of ORG (parliament), which is in session in GPE, was expected to pass a law spelling out how to handle criminal or civil cases involving troops to be garrisoned in GPE, the official ORG said.
+""Crimes committed by off-duty personnel... will be handled by the courts of GPE SAR (Special Adminstrative Region),"" the agency said.
+Criminal cases involving on-duty soldiers would be handled by military courts, it said.
+Civil rights offences committed by off-duty members of the NORP garrison, which will be responsible for GPE security after the colony returns to GPE's rule on DATE, would be dealt with by GPE courts, it said.
+Civil rights offences committed by soldiers while on duty would be referred to GPE's ORG, the nation's highest judicial body, it said.
+NORP lawmakers had used NORP army practices in GPE as a reference in drafting the measures, ORG quoted PERSON, general chief of staff of GPE's ORG (PLA), as saying.
+Defence operations of the ORG would not be subject to GPE courts, ORG said but did not elaborate.
+""Troops stationed in GPE will notify GPE government in advance of any military drills and exercises to be conducted that involve the public interest,"" it said.
+The GPE government said in a statement it was ""not able to provide a detailed response to the garrison law just relying on the reports"".
+""We hope that we and the people of GPE can have an early opportunity to study the draft law itself,"" it added.
+ORG said GPE would be required to provide facilities for the carrying out of defence duties and would have to consult the military when drafting policies that concern them.
+Military personnel would be forbidden from participating in political or religious organisations in the territory, it said.
+GPE has eagerly sought to allay fears among GPE CARDINAL people over the posting of NORP troops in the territory. State media has said soldiers destined for GPE have been studying local songs and customs.
+Many GPE people view with trepidation the arrival of NORP troops, remembering the ORG's bloody DATE crackdown on student-led demonstrations for more democracy in GPE.
+""Sending ORG troops to GPE on DATE, has become a matter of concern among GPE residents,"" ORG said.
+""Troops stationed in GPE will not interfere in the SAR's local affairs,"" it pledged.
+GPE has not revealed how large a force it will post in GPE but says it will send no more than the CARDINAL troops NORP stationed there at its peak level.",1
+"NORP paper and packaging group ORG is expected on DATE to post a heavy slump in DATE profit, due to lower paper prices and weak demand in its home market, but analysts feel the worst may soon be over.
+The group, which recently warned the stock market its CARDINAL (DATE) results would be down on its CARDINAL record net profit, is tipped to announce a fall of PERCENT in pre-abnormal net earnings.  
+Stock analysts are forecasting on average a result of MONEY pre-abnormal profit in CARDINAL, according to ORG ORG forecasting service.
+But ORG, which is highly sensitive to both world paper prices and the NORP economic cycle, is coming off DATE in CARDINAL, when a surge in paper prices and a strong local economy lifted the bottom line by PERCENT to MONEY.
+In DATE of CARDINAL, prices turned against the group, which relies for PERCENT of its turnover on white paper sales, and the domestic economy has remained flat.  
+Prices have fallen in the order of PERCENT since their peak in late calendar DATE, CARDINAL paper market source said.
+In a sign of the times, ORG's PERCENT-owned paper merchant ORG reported DATE a PERCENT slide in DATE net profit to MONEY.
+""There's been some pretty tough markets there and I think the NORP economy is flat and the paper cycle has gone against them a bit,"" said GPE-based analyst PERSON, of ORG  
+Sales are expected to exceed DATE MONEY, but margins have been squeezed and are likely to remain tight through DATE of CARDINAL, the analysts said.
+But ORG and a GPE-based analyst told ORG they saw pre-abnormal net profit stabilising at MONEY in CARDINAL and recovering DATE.
+""As soon as there is some sort of pick-up in economic growth, you will see it start to improve,"" the GPE-based analyst told ORG on DATE.
+""I am positive in the longer term,"" she added.  
+ORG, CARDINAL of the world's top CARDINAL paper and packaging groups, has paper packaging operations in LOC, GPE, LOC and GPE. It has maintained double-digit growth in net profit for all but CARDINAL of DATE.
+Despite the current downturn, it has continued to expand its offshore operations, buying PERCENT of ORG flexible packing unit in DATE for MONEY.
+It has also allocated MONEY to expand paper production in GPE, where it commands PERCENT of the market for fine papers.  
+PERSON's ORG said he believed these and other capital investments -- totalling MONEY over DATE -- would begin to bolster the bottom line in CARDINAL.
+""These sorts of programmes will certainly come through with increased profits through DATE (CARDINAL) and especially through DATE (CARDINAL),"" ORG said.
+""The CARDINAL DATE outlook is pretty strong,"" he added.
+-- GPE bureau CARDINAL","NORP resources and steel group ORG (ORG) posted a PERCENT fall in DATE profits on DATE, disappointing the share market but avoiding another mauling by investors.
+BHP, whose shares have been hammered since its key markets in steel and copper turned sour DATE, posted a MONEY (MONEY) net profit for DATE, down from A$MONEY for DATE.
+But GPE's largest quoted company had its bottom line boosted by an abnormal gain of MONEY and investors were initially not impressed.
+The share price were up MONEY to a high of A$MONEY just after the result then took a tumble and settled at MONEY in TIME trading.
+But late buying across the board helped ORG, the market bellwether stock, recover ground and the stock closed at A$MONEY, MONEY higher than DATE's close.
+""It's pretty lousy,"" CARDINAL fund manager's stock analyst told ORG soon after the release. Another analyst disappointed with the result said the resources giant was still on track for a modest profit recovery for DATE.
+Though forecast signs of improvement emerged in ORG's battered copper division, with the NORP copper operations swinging back into profit, analysts had been tipping a DATE group pre-abnormal result of MONEY.
+ORG's pre-abnormal net profit of MONEY was PERCENT down on the corresponding 1995/96 period.
+But managing director PERSON said DATE figures showed an accelerating improvement in performance and that, despite weak copper and steel prices, the group was still investing in future growth.
+Citing a sharp jump in exploration expenditure in DATE, he told reporters: ""That's an important part of sustaining our growth.""
+""I think we are moving ahead,"" he added. ""We have a lot of work to do and we're going to build the company around its high-quality assets and we are starting to see the results of our work.""
+Including abnormals, ORG's minerals, copper and steel divisions all contributed higher earnings in DATE against the DATE. The steel division was flat.
+Petroleum was the biggest earner with MONEY for DATE, but this included an abnormal gain of MONEY from the settlement of a dispute over a gas resource tax.
+ORG pre-abormal result also included a MONEY windfall from asset sales and a larger than expected exploration expense.
+ORG's minerals division, a major world producer of iron ore and coal, doubled its contribution to profit in DATE to MONEY, due largely to higher world prices.
+ORG benefitted from a recent firming in the copper price and a cut of MONEY per pound in its NORP operating costs to post DATE profit of MONEY, up from MONEY in DATE.
+The GPE copper operations, acquired DATE with the MONEY purchase of ORG, made a loss on a full-cost basis in DATE. ORG said on DATE PERSON had swung back into profit in DATE.
+ORG DATE profit was flat at MONEY.",1
+"A leading software industry group is backing away from its early support of ORG new policy to ease export rules on computer encoding technology.
+In a letter to vice president PERSON, ORG, which includes ORG and ORG ORG, warned that rules implementing the new encryption export policy appeared to be flawed.  
+""It appears that significant backtracking has occurred since the DATE announcement,"" the alliance wrote.
+""Therefore, we seriously doubt that the regulations will work, meet consumer demands or be accepted by the private sector unless the administration radically changes its approach immediately,"" the alliance added.
+A spokeswoman for PERSON said PERSON, the vice president's chief domestic policy adviser, and other administration officials working on the rules have met with the software group to discuss the criticism.  
+""There is still an internal decision making process going on,"" spokeswoman PERSON said. Final rules are expected by DATE, she said.
+The administration is attempting to craft a compromise on export sales of products containing encryption, computer programs that use mathematical formulas to scramble information and render it unreadable without a password or software ""key.""
+Under current laws dating from EVENT, products for export can only include very weak coding features.  
+But with the growth of the Internet and online commerce, encryption is spreading as a means to ensure secure communication between businesses and to safeguard consumers' credit card numbers.
+GPE software companies argue they are losing substantial overseas sales to foreign companies not bound by the export laws.
+GPE law enforcement and intelligence officials counter that the spread of sophisticated encryption will make their jobs far more difficult.  
+Under the compromise policy announced in DATE and enacted in an executive order DATE, companies would be able to export strong encryption but only if the products also contained a feature known as ""key recovery"" that would permit the government to decode scrambled data.
+The software alliance said in DATE that the new policy was a ""step in the right direction."" In its letter DATE, however, the alliance said it was not happy with the rules being drafted to implement the policy. ""Everything we have seen and heard to date reveals that the government is headed in the absolute wrong direction,"" it said.  
+Part of the debate revolves around the definition of key recovery. The alliance said key recovery should consist of products which allow the government to decode stored communications, such as an E-mail message saved on a computer hard drive. But products should not be required to allow government decoding of real-time communications.
+""There is little if any commercial demand for key recovery function in real-time communications,"" the alliance wrote. ""Our members have seen nothing to suggest that any product developed to date can work on a mass market scale or that there is significant commercial demand for such products.""
+A number of companies, including ORG and ORG, have announced products designed to meet the new export policy. But not all of them easily allow real-time key recovery.
+Although ORG is trying to create products to meet the export policy, ""we still feel government should liberalize the policy more,"" PERSON, head of the company's Internet commerce group, said.
+-- CARDINAL 898-8312","Legislators introduced CARDINAL bills DATE to overturn the PERSON administration's export limits on computer encryption technology, a key component of online commerce and global communications.
+Encryption products, which scramble information and render it unreadable without a password or software ""key,"" were once the realm of spies and generals.
+But with the booming growth of the Internet, secret coding is now used for everything from keeping a business's e-mail confidential to protecting a consumer's credit card number if it is transmitted online.
+Senators said export restrictions on encryption products were hindering the development of the Internet and making it impossible for GPE companies to compete with foreign firms.
+The bills ""roll back current restrictions on the export of strong cryptography so that high-tech GPE firms are free to compete in the global marketplace and meet the demand of customers,"" Sen. PERSON, a GPE NORP and co-sponsor of both bills, said at a ORG news conference.
+""Online commerce will never reach its full potential under the policies of this and past administrations,"" said Sen. PERSON, a GPE NORP , also a co-sponsor.
+The bills would generally allow a GPE company to export a product with strong encryption features if similiar products were being offered for sale by a foreign supplier. ORG and PERSON introduced similiar measures in the last ORG.
+Under the current PERSON administration policy, a company may export strong encryption only if the product also includes a feature to allow the GPE government to crack the code by recovering the software ""key"" when acting under a court order or similiar authority. The administration says it must be able to crack the codes to catch international criminals and terrorists.
+If the bills became law, mandatory key recovery would be banned but the government would still be permitted to restrict the export of encryption for military use or to countries posing terrorist threats.
+The legislation would also write into law the current policy permitting unrestricted domestic use of encryption -- but CARDINAL bill would criminalize the use of codes to obstruct justice.
+The PERSON administration signalled its displeasure with the new bills.
+""We continue to be disappointed with Senator PERSON' approach because it does not balance the needs of individual privacy and economic growth with national security and public safety,"" Undersecretary of Commerce PERSON said. ""We believe there is a market for key recovery products from businesses who recognise the need for a back door to their own corporate data.""
+Computer companies and privacy advocates hailed the bills.
+""Both bills promote the freedom of this nation's fastest-growing industry to provide customers here and abroad with products they demand,"" said PERSON, president of ORG. The group includes ORG, ORG ORG and ORG, among others.
+""This is the most important privacy legislation before the ORG today,"" said PERSON, executive director of ORG.
+PERSON, who strongly opposes mandatory key recovery, said the policy ought to be ""my lock, my key.""",1
+"GPE's top graft-buster on DATE lauded the country's success in battling corruption in DATE but urged greater efforts DATE to fight abuses of power by government officials.
+Vigilant residents and rules requiring officials to report their incomes had helped uncover CARDINAL of graft cases in DATE, ORG quoted PERSON, chairman of ORG ORG, as saying.
+Authorities had also cracked several cases involving major officials such as PERSON, a member of the standing committee of FAC, PERSON told a meeting of the committee in GPE that opened on DATE.
+Several officials were dismissed during the investigation of those cases, PERSON said but gave no further details.
+More work was needed to fight corruption in DATE, PERSON said.
+""While affirming the achievements of DATE we must address the serious situation and problems facing the anti-corruption drive,"" PERSON said.
+President and ORG chief PERSON launched a crackdown on corruption in DATE, saying that graft was a virus that threatened to topple the party.
+Wei said GPE should place priority on fighting random and illegal fees on public roads, students in primary and middle schools and on farmers.
+""The leaders and cadres of some localities and departments still do not have sufficient understanding of the seriousness and importance of the anti-corruption struggle,"" he said.
+The party should step up internal scrutiny and encourage supervision of officials by the public, he said.
+Residents made CARDINAL telephone calls to anti-graft hotlines in DATE, PERCENT more than the same period in DATE, he said.
+The calls had resulted in CARDINAL cases, including CARDINAL involving officials at the county level or above, he said. The total number of cases in the period had risen PERCENT from the same time in DATE.
+Disciplinary authorities had punished CARDINAL people, up PERCENT from DATE. Of those, CARDINAL were from the county level or above while CARDINAL were provincial level officials, he said.
+Investigators had found CARDINAL cars used by party or government officials that exceeded standards set for officials, he said.
+CARDINAL officials had admitted using their positions to obtain better housing, with PERCENT handing over a total of MONEY (MONEY) to pay for the housing, he said.
+CARDINAL officials, PERCENT of whom ranked above the county level, had handed over cash and gifts worth MONEY (MONEY), he said.
+Government agencies and state-owned enterprises had reduced entertainment expenses by MONEY (MONEY) after being forced to make full accountings of such items, he said.
+""The use of public funds to engage in the unhealthy trend of 'eat, drink and be merry' has been contained somewhat,"" he said.
+($MONEY = MONEY)","An NORP airline has successfully completed a proving flight over NORP air space which ORG (ORG) said is an important milestone in the introduction of ORG (FANS) on LOC routes.
+ORG ORG PRODUCT flight from GPE to GPE's FAC on DATE is expected to be followed by more pioneering trials over DATE by ORG, ORG and ORG, said PERSON, international programme officer of the ORG.
+FANS, or ORG (ORG/ORG), is the next generation air traffic management system which uses satellite navigation for the more efficient use of air space.
+""Aircraft which are FANS equipped will have the competitive edge with reduced costs all round. The technology will mean more direct routes, less fuel burned, more cargo carried, reduced air traffic controls costs, reduced errors and ground delays -- there is no turning back"", PERSON told this DATE's ORG.
+The GPE was working towards a new bilateral agreement with GPE to develop air traffic control infrastructure in LOC to open up air space to airlines flying between LOC and NORP cities such as GPE, GPE and GPE.
+""There have been a lot of problems in getting demonstration flights approved by the NORP authorities. The use of LANGUAGE which is the international language of the skies is still a major problem. This is another milestone in the development of FANS and the most successful proving flight to date although it is still DATE,"" PERSON said.
+Speaking after the conference Behrens said further advances are hoped for at FAC Group meeting in GPE on DATE.
+Airlines which have already invested in FANS cockpit technology are waiting on the go ahead for a new ""fast track"" routing across the central LOC cutting TIME off journey times between GPE or GPE to GPE or GPE. ORG, ORG and ORG which is awaiting GPE government approval to use FANS cockpit technology, could be the ORDINAL airlines to benefit, PERSON said.
+ORG, which has to make a big U-turn to avoid military training areas near GPE air space, is also expected to make ""huge savings"" from FANS technology with a TIME saving on GPE bound flights from GPE when a new agreement with the LOC is signed, the ORG estimate.
+CARDINAL ORG PRODUCT aircraft, the inter-continental workhorse of many airlines, are currently equipped with FANS avionics but that total is about to mushroom and all airliners will be FANS equipped by DATE, PERSON predicted. - Air Cargo Newsroom Tel+44 171 542 7706 Fax+44 171 542 5017",0
+"GPE's ORG said on DATE it was in talks with GPE group ORG about its global custody business and banking sources confirmed the unit is up for sale.
+Barclays and ORG were coy in responding to press speculation, saying only that they are ""in discussions to explore the potential for future co-operation"".
+The move would be another step in the consolidation of the global custody business which is becoming dominated by those banks who are willing to make the large front-end investment in systems which are necessary to later rake in fees.
+Barclays' custody business has CARDINAL to CARDINAL staff worldwide, with some working in LOC, but has for some time been treated as not in the bank's core business.
+Securities worth MONEY (MONEY) have been placed with the unit.
+In its interim results, published in DATE, PERSON included custody in its ""WORK_OF_ART"" category which includes restructuring businesses in GPE and GPE. The category including custody made a profit of MONEY in DATE.
+The report said, ""WORK_OF_ART primarily comprises lendings and other assets that are unlikely to be of long-term interest to the ORG or that require significant restructuring.""
+It was not clear when the deal will be finalised but analysts said it would mark a further step in the consolidation of the global custody market.
+""Consolidation is a natural if you look at the economic of the business,"" said PERSON, banking analyst at ORG. ""It's a scale economy buisiness.""
+Leonard said that some banks had taken the decision not to invest the large sums needed to get computer systems up to scratch to be competitive.
+Custody businesses range from traditional safekeeping of securities, which in GPE is dominated by ORG and ORG, to performance measurement and stock lending.
+As such, it has ceased to be the largely risk-free business it once was although risk levels are still relatively low.
+""It guarantees a steady income stream but it's not totally insensitive to market volumes,"" PERSON added.
+Analysts said PERSON has presumably decided that without further investment, the business will be too small to compete on the global stage. They expect ORG to pay well MONEY for the business. ""It could well be MONEY (pounds),"" said CARDINAL.
+Finance workers' union PERSON attacked the leak of the discussions, saying staff face an uncertain future if the business was sold.
+It called on the bank to ""come clean"" over its intentions. ($MONEY Pound)","Olympic Financial Ltd said DATE it could reach a deal to sell the company by DATE.
+""I would expect that the time frame hopefully would be sometime in DATE,"" said PERSON, chairman of ORG's executive committee, in an interview. He was referring to the process of its investment banker ORG and NORP considering strategic alternatives for the GPE-based automobile finance company.  
+Olympic said DATE it has received an indication of interest from a potential buyer. ORG said others have also expressed interest in the company since DATE's announcement.
+""Effectively, what I believe is happening is due to the public announcement, those people who would go through a longer time frame... want to be sure (they are) not left out,"" ORG said.
+He would not comment on the identity of any potential suitors, but said the ORDINAL contact came from a company with investment grade credit.  
+A combination with an investment grade company could allow Olympic greater access to capital to expand its business, ORG said. Olympic's credit is not investment grade.
+Olympic needs capital to expand technology as its business expands, ORG said.
+""We think that the circumstances of the company are such that it makes sense to consider offers in order to take advantage of our rapid growth and opportunities,"" he said, noting that access to capital could especially become an issue in the event of a recession.  
+While capital may be harder to come by in a recession, demand for loans from Olympic's customers, who essentially need their cars to get to work, would not wane much, ORG said.
+Kantor would not rule out the option of remaining independent and slowing down its growth plans, but added that it was likely the company would receive an acceptable buyout offer. ""While we think it is likely that we will get offers that are acceptable, we're not going to accept (just) anything,"" he said.
+Olympic's loans serviced have jumped to MONEY at DATE from MONEY DATE and the company is looking to further expand into a somewhat higher risk loan category it refers to as PRODUCT, ORG said.
+Those loans net PERCENT rates, while PERCENT of its portfolio is made up of loans at about a PERCENT rate, ORG said, adding that Olympic wants PRODUCT loans to make up PERCENT of the portfolio by DATE.
+Kantor would not comment on analysts' estimates ranging from $MONEY a share to MONEY a share as a sale price for the company. Olympic rose CARDINAL to DATE DATE.
+--Reuters GPE newsdesk, CARDINAL-408-8787",0
+"The NORP ruling centre-right coalition agreed on DATE to name ORG as justice minister, replacing PERSON who resigned DATE after he admitted to using an unattained ""Doctor of Law"" title.
+But coalition leaders agreed to wait on the choice of a replacement for PERSON, who is chairman of a small right-wing junior coalition party, ORG (ODA), in the more politically-sensitive post of deputy prime minister.
+""We received an official proposal from the ORG for a new justice minister... as Doctor PERSON. We approved this proposal by the ORG on the coalition level,"" Prime Minister PERSON, the head of the senior ORG (ODS), told a news conference.
+After a meeting with his coalition partners ORG said that PERSON could be officially appointed by President PERSON as soon as DATE.
+Parkanova, DATE, a certified doctor of law, currently serves as a chief of staff at ORG.
+She would become the first woman to have a seat in the GPE government since the split of GPE in DATE.
+ODA vice chairman PERSON said the coalition agreed to a request by his party to postpone nomination of the new deputy prime minister, who would lead the party in the tenuous minority cabinet, until after the party's congress in DATE.
+PERSON's position as chairman of the pro-business ORG is also to be decided at the DATE party congress.
+The ORG has CARDINAL seats in the CARDINAL-member cabinet under a coalition agreement with the ORG and the centrist NORP (ORG), plus one of CARDINAL deputy premierships.
+PERSON and the ORG-CSL leader PERSON have fought heated policy battles with ORG's party, which controls CARDINAL of the cabinet, but the coalition remains the longest-running conservative government in LOC.
+Tensions have been heightened since DATE when the coalition lost its majority in the lower house of parliament.
+PERSON, a parliamentary deputy and a cabinet member since the coalition was formed in DATE, was the ORDINAL member of parliament who admitted using the title of Juris Doctor without actually having qualified for it.
+Out of the other CARDINAL fake doctors, only one has resigned her parliamentary seat.","GPE could have a QUANTITY sugar surplus from this DATE's campaign but little will be exported due to high local production costs and a world sugar surplus, sugar experts say.
+ORG said the state would buy some surplus sugar for strategic reserves and would prepare indirect support for exporters but it ruled out direct export subsidies.
+Industry sources varied in their assesment of potential foreign markets but agreed producers will try to sell as much as they can at home as world prices were considerably lower.
+""It is expected that the surplus will be CARDINAL to 100,000 tonnes,"" said PERSON of the ministry, adding that total production will be CARDINAL raw value after last campaign's QUANTITY.
+She added net sugar exports should be QUANTITY. PERSON declined to say how much the state would buy for its reserves, nor what the reserves are, saying this was secret.
+""State reserves will be filled, other parts will have to be exported. But it is very difficult to get to foreign markets,"" PERSON added.
+She said ORG was not importing due to higher output. There are payment problems with GPE and GPE, but former NORP countries were potentially interesting, she said.
+Director of trading firm ORG believed the surplus would total QUANTITY, most of which would stay in GPE.
+""The surplus will not be so dramatic...There are quite good yields but the harvest is going slowly due to bad weather. A forecast freeze and subsequent warming will limit output.""
+""Producers will not want to export...(because of low prices) Those who can store it, will, he told ORG, adding he believed the state could buy QUANTITY QUANTITY for reserves.
+Secretary of ORG PERSON also saw a CARDINAL surplus but said it could be partially swallowed by the state and the elasticity of domestic consumption. But he stressed that financial costs of storing sugar could push producers to sell at any price.
+ORG said local prices have dropped to CARDINAL crowns per kilo from DATE. The market is protected by a PERCENT tariff, which will drop DATE to PERCENT.
+""We are pushed from CARDINAL sides -- the domestic surplus and low price on the world market. If prices drop further, other sugar could get here,"" ORG told ORG.
+Breweries could buy QUANTITY more than they usually do if prices go below the costs of malt, and citric acid makers could take care of QUANTITY, ORG said.
+""There is a hunger for sugar in GPE, GPE, GPE, also in GPE,"" said ORG. He added that GPE, which itself expects to have a sizeable surplus, was also a potential market.
+""We also cannot expect to supply the GPE exchange, because our sugar does not meet the conditions,"" he noted.
+He said PERSON exporters could also look to traditional markts like GPE...""Of course, the price would be poor.""
+The ministry and ORG said the surplus would lead to a smaller sown area DATE after CARDINAL hectares DATE. ""I believe the optimal area for DATE would be CARDINAL hectares,"" ORG said.",1
+"GPE said on DATE that NORP-U.S. trade ties have improved but warned that major problems, including GPE's long-delayed entry into ORG (ORG), still needed to be resolved.
+It also hinted at possible retaliation against a GPE decision DATE to slap punitive charges against NORP textile quotas -- a move it described as ""totally unacceptable"".
+""The NORP-U.S. economic relationship is recovering, but CARDINAL major issues concerning NORP economic links need to be settled,"" the official ORG on DATE quoted Foreign Trade Minister PERSON as saying.
+Those CARDINAL issues were GPE's failure to join the ORG and the lack of permanent Most Favoured Nation (MFN) trade status for NORP goods in the GPE market.
+A recent series of high-level exchanges between GPE and GPE had helped ease friction over copyright piracy, textile quotas, GPE and human rights, the newspaper quoted PERSON as saying.
+""The tension in the NORP-U.S. relationship has been alleviated,"" PERSON said, adding that further progress would hinge on GPE's stance towards GPE's entry into the ORG and its yearly review of ORG.
+""The DATE examination of GPE's ORG status is already a shadow over NORP and GPE enterprises and adds a factor of instability,"" PERSON said.
+GPE DATE reviews GPE's ORG status, which confers on trading partners the lowest possible tariffs. GPE has urged GPE to make such treatment permanent.
+""We hope the Most Favoured Nation issue will be solved once and for all,"" PERSON said.
+GPE is CARDINAL of GPE largest trading partners.
+GPE companies sold MONEY worth of goods to GPE DATE, while NORP bought MONEY worth NORP products.
+PERSON also called on GPE to work harder with GPE to hammer out conditions whereby GPE could secure a coveted seat in the ORG, saying such moves would benefit trade links.
+GPE has insisted on entering the world trade body under the easier terms accorded to developing nations. But many developed nations, including GPE, have demanded tougher entry requirements because of the sheer size of GPE's economy.
+""Smooth settlement of the CARDINAL issues would prove to be a great impetus to NORP-GPE trade and economic cooperation,"" PERSON said.
+He said GPE's total foreign trade would hit MONEY DATE and forecast that figure to balloon to MONEY in DATE and MONEY in DATE. She did not say how much exports or imports were expected to be.
+DATE GPE decided to set punitive charges against GPE's DATE textile quotas in a move that GPE says was made without full consultation.
+""We would like GPE to change its decision,"" PERSON said. ""Otherwise, GPE will take measures in response.""","A lone NORP with a NORP record-breaking performance kept the NORP women's swimming team from a clean sweep on DATE of EVENT short-course series on DATE.
+The NORP women struck gold by powering their way to CARDINAL victories in CARDINAL events, failing to capture QUANTITY backstroke.
+Nina Zhyvanevskaya of GPE took the crown in that event when she smashed the NORP record by a full 1.0 second with her time of TIME.
+In the other heats it was GPE all the way.
+PERSON led EVENT gold medallist PERSON throughout the QUANTITY freestyle and not even a mid-contest surge by the powerful NORP could propel her ahead of ORG, who clinched the win with a time of CARDINAL.
+Rising star PERSON, who took home CARDINAL golds in DATE's finals, emerged victorious in the QUANTITY individual medley.
+The DATE also took silver in the QUANTITY individual medley and bronze in the QUANTITY backstroke.
+PERSON drew wild cheers from the crowd as she came within a hair's breadth of breaking the world record in the QUANTITY breaststroke, clocking TIME, TIME outside the record books.
+The NORP women's squad is seeking to re-establish world dominance after CARDINAL swimmers were banned in an embarrassing doping scandal at the DATE EVENT.
+PERSON, who made her ORDINAL appearance in an international event on DATE since she was suspended in EVENT scandal, placed a lowly ORDINAL in the QUANTITY backstroke.
+PERSON glided to gold in the QUANTITY freestyle, PERSON seized the title in the QUANTITY butterfly and PERSON won the QUANTITY breaststroke.
+The women's gold haul was rounded out by PERSON victory in the QUANTITY individual medley and PERSON QUANTITY butterfly triumph.
+GPE's men's team echoed their DATE TIME performance with a haul of CARDINAL out of CARDINAL available golds.
+PERSON outpaced PERSON in the QUANTITY freestyle. PERSON won the QUANTITY freestyle on DATE.
+GPE's PERSON captured gold with his time of CARDINAL in the QUANTITY backstroke while PERSON of the GPE notched up his ORDINAL victory in GPE with a win in the QUANTITY individual medley.
+PERSON of GPE swam to a surprise victory in the QUANTITY freestyle while NORP PERSON took the QUANTITY breaststroke title.
+The next leg of the CARDINAL-round EVENT, which carries $MONEY in prize money, is on DATE in GPE.",1
+"CARDINAL politicians, including CARDINAL of DATE's lawmakers, have sought seats on a controversial GPE-controlled legislature in a move that may cripple GPE parliament in the twilight of NORP rule.
+Before a registration deadline on DATE, CARDINAL people had applied to join the ""provisional legislature"", among them CARDINAL members of the present elected ORG (Legco).
+GPE reverts to GPE at DATE, and GPE is pressing ahead -- despite NORP objections -- on setting up a provisional interim legislature to replace the elected PERSON at the handover.
+The provisional legislature will be selected on DATE.
+The territory of CARDINAL people now faces a bizarre prospect of having CARDINAL legislatures for DATE of NORP rule -- CARDINAL elected, legal and active, and a shadow ""selected"" chamber vulnerable to courtroom battles.
+The number of seats on ORG and the new body is the same -- CARDINAL. An official of the GPE-controlled committee supervising the DATE registration process said CARDINAL people had requested application forms, so there could be more contenders at TIME.
+Among CARDINAL incumbent lawmakers who have applied are ORG speaker PERSON, whose bid startled the political community DATE and sparked fears that ORG could disintegrate.
+""PERSON which have already emerged within ORG over the bid by some members for a seat on the provisional legislature will widen in DATE,"" said political commentator PERSON.
+""When you have CARDINAL bodies from which laws emanate at the same time, there's going to be some confusion and dispute,"" said analyst PERSON of GPE ORG.
+Those wanting a seat in the new chamber also include CARDINAL ex-lawmakers and CARDINAL former election contestants defeated in DATE elections in which pro-democracy groups led by ORG fared strongly.
+The DATE losers applying for a seat include prominent pro-Beijing politicians such as PERSON, PERSON and PERSON.
+Applicants also include CARDINAL newcomers to legislative contests, many of whom are members of the hand-picked CARDINAL-member ORG crafting the DATE GPE power structures on behalf of GPE's communist rulers.
+Other newcomers are members of the CARDINAL-strong ORG. This is the GPE-backed panel that will chose the ORDINAL post-colonial leader on DATE, with the winner forecast to be conservative-minded shipping tycoon PERSON. The committee will also be responsible for selecting the provisional legislative body on DATE.
+An opinion poll published on DATE by the independent DATE ORG showed GPE people split over the legitimacy of the provisional legislature.
+The poll showed PERCENT supporting the body, PERCENT against, and PERCENT voicing no opinion. A sample of CARDINAL respondents were surveyed by telephone for the poll.
+ORG, the largest in the GPE with CARDINAL seats, are absent from all GPE-controlled transition bodies.
+They have boycotted the selection process, branding the provisional legislature as undemocratic and illegal, and have vowed to challenge its legitimacy in the courts.
+The threat has forced GPE's representatives in GPE to consider locating the interim legislature in mainland GPE in the transitional period.
+GPE has condemned GPE's plan as reprehensible and unnecessary and has ruled out all cooperation with the body.","Visiting NORP Foreign Minister PERSON said on DATE she hoped to boost cooperation with GPE to help both nations crack down on a flourishing narcotics trade.
+NORP officials said they hoped to sign an agreement with GPE that would increase information exchanges and strengthen police training in the fight against drugs.
+""The NORP were very clear that they very much wanted to seek cooperation in the matter of drugs,"" said PERSON, who is accompanying NORP President PERSON on a DATE visit to GPE.
+""We want to exchange knowledge in the field of fighting heroin trafficking,"" PERSON told reporters, adding that the rise of the heroin trade in GPE -- infamous for its cocaine cartels -- was a relatively new development.
+""GPE knows very little about narcotics trafficking in LOC, and we have to know more, and GPE has to know more about narco-trafficking in LOC, otherwise it will be very difficult to have a multilateral policy,"" PERSON said.
+She did not say when she expected the proposed accord to be signed.
+Samper told a news briefing GPE had expressed support for GPE's anti-drug efforts, but did not elaborate.
+GPE had expressed an interest in pursuing a policy not only of cracking down on drug traffickers but of preventing and treating drug addiction, ORG said.
+GPE's official ORG quoted NORP Foreign Minister PERSON as urging major drug-consuming nations to bolster their efforts to reduce domestic drug use.
+""Drug-consuming countries should also shoulder heavy responsibility because the great market demand for drugs would result in widespread drug production and trafficking,"" PERSON was quoted as saying.
+GPE's top anti-drug policeman General PERSON told the briefing he did not think NORP and NORP drug cartels were working together to distribute heroin throughout LOC.
+""The NORP mafia is the most difficult to penetrate, but as far as we know, there is no connection between NORP and NORP (drug traffickers),"" said ORG, who is widely credited with smashing GPE's notorious GPE cocaine cartel.
+A report by ORG DATE said GPE had edged out southeast LOC's Golden Triangle region as the top supplier of high-grade heroin to GPE.
+The report said PERCENT of all heroin confiscated in GPE came from GPE.
+GPE faces a growing problem with drug trafficking, much of it through the southwestern province of GPE which borders on the Golden Triangle drug production region that includes parts of GPE, GPE and GPE.
+GPE frequently executes people convicted of narcotics crimes and sentences many drug users to strict rehabilitation programmes.",0
+"ORG of the GPE threw NORP regional electricity company ORG its ORDINAL bid challenge in DATE on DATE with a MONEY offer and analysts said it may succumb.
+""We will see an agreed bid eventually,"" said PERSON at ORG, who said the price could rise to MONEY per share from the current MONEY offer.
+ORG, jointly owned by ORG with PERCENT and U.S.-based construction, mining and telecoms group PERSON with PERCENT, said on DATE it would pay MONEY each for the ordinary shares of ORG.
+The deal also offers MONEY per preference share. ORG pounced on PERCENT of LOC at the bid price of MONEY as the shares vacillated between a peak of MONEY and a low of MONEY, trading up MONEY at CARDINAL by DATE ORG.
+ORG successfully fended off a hostile bid DATE from ORG, now owned by GPE's PERSON, offering the carrot of a special package worth MONEY (MONEY) for shareholders.
+That has left its balance sheet too weak to squeeze a substantially higher bid, according to ORG.
+ORG chairman PERSON said he felt the offer was ""a very full price,"" adding that ORG had sought to agree a bid with ORG but ""the only area we could not agree on was value.""
+A rash of bids DATE in the electricity sector were made at levels of around CARDINAL times earnings, according to PERSON, analyst at ORG, but ORG price values LOC at a ratio of CARDINAL.
+""There might well be some upside, but I don't think we're likely to see the CARDINAL times earnings figure,"" Stone added.
+ORG's ORG said ORG had targeted ORG, based in LOC GPE, because it wanted to add distribution and supply to its existing skill base of generation while the previous bid had made information on the regional electricity company more accessible.
+In addition, he said ORG's size was ""very manageable.""
+""They are the smallest regional electricity company and that means that you can get them cheaper,"" said CARDINAL analyst who asked not to be named.
+Northern urged its shareholders to do nothing and said it would make a further statement later on DATE, while ORG's ORG said he hoped to secure a recommended bid.
+Rumours a U.S.-based company, possibly ORG or ORG, might bid for CARDINAL of the CARDINAL remaining independent NORP regional electricity companies sent shares surging on DATE, but LOC had been seen as one of the least attractive because of its high gearing.
+ORG, which led DATE's climb, slipped back MONEY to MONEY, while PERSON added MONEY to MONEY and ORG rose MONEY to MONEY with ORG gained MONEY to MONEY.
+Some analysts suggested that ORG might have to raise its bid to cover a MONEY special dividend which LOC intends to pay as a special dividend in DATE.
+ORG is a U.S.-based power generator which uses geothermal, natural gas and hydroelectric resources and operates facilities worldwide. Total assets are MONEY with a market capitalisation of MONEY. ($MONEY Pound)","NORP industry watchdog ORG said on DATE it would review water company price limits in DATE, DATE of schedule, in a move which commentators said was not unexpected and possibly with political undertones.
+The opposition Labour party, currently standing ahead of the ruling ORG in opinion polls with a general election due by DATE, welcomed the move as ""long overdue"".
+Ofwat set the current price limits in DATE for a DATE period with an option to review in DATE at the request either of GPE director general PERSON or the companies.
+In a statement, ORG said ""a gap of DATE between reviews is too long even given the long term nature of the water industry.""
+""The regulator's decision to have a review in DATE comes as no surprise,"" PERSON, director of ORG which represents water firms, said in a statement.
+Labour environment spokesman PERSON said in a statement the review was an admission by GPE that Labour ""has been right to argue that the water companies have been allowed to rip off their customers since privatisation.""
+Byatt said he was announcing the review now ""to remove speculation and regulatory uncertainty...to give sufficient time for consultation with all those involved.""
+Water company shares dipped on the news with ORG down MONEY to MONEY while ORG shed MONEY to MONEY and ORG was down MONEY to MONEY.
+Multi-utilities Hyder and ORG also suffered, sliding MONEY to MONEY and MONEY to MONEY respectively.
+ORG said major consideration would be given during the review to the need for balancing supply and demand and to pay more attention to leakage control, factors highlighted in DATE drought when many firms banned non-essential water use.
+Labour criticised the industry at the time for allowing QUANTITY of water a day to seep out through pipes while paying large dividends and hefty salaries to directors.
+Ofwat has already flexed its muscles against ORG inadequate handling of the drought which saw the company forced to tanker in supplies, by imposing price cuts for DATE and singling it out at the time for a review in DATE.
+The company, which has since had a change of management, said on DATE it would finally lift all restrictions imposed in DATE on DATE.
+Labour, which has utility companies in its sights for a proposed ""windfall"" profits tax, said GPE's planned price review would ""have to play its part in (a) better deal for customers.""
+Byatt, by announcing an early review and stressing the need to pass savings on to customers, is ""moving to assuage the politicians,"" said CARDINAL analyst who declined to be named.
+""There is lots of jockeying for position ahead of an election. The companies want to be seen to be doing the right thing,"" said PERSON, analyst at PERSON.
+DATE, companies will have an opportunity to go some way to pre-empting a harsh review when they announce interim results at DATE.
+Several of the water companies have used the announcement of past results to share out benefits of cost savings between customers and shareholders, giving rebates to the former and generous dividend payouts to the latter. ""Companies may well consider there is a value now in laying out their plans for benefit sharing ahead of the next election,"" CARDINAL analyst said.",1
+"ORG -- the upstart in the direct broadcast satellite television business -- gave the nascent industry a major jolt DATE with a sharp price cut.
+The jolt reverberated DATE when ORG, the GPE unit of GPE's ORG, which dominates the satellite TV dish market, matched ORG's new price at $MONEY for a satellite dish.
+ORG executives said the new price will surely shake up the industry and fuel sales for what is said to be the fastest growing consumer electronics product ever -- one that even now is taking market share from the cable industry.
+""It will completely change the nature of the business,"" said PERSON, an executive vice president at ORG.
+ORG move cut the price of the ORG brand digital satellite system by MONEY a unit. Combined with a $MONEY cash back offer by programming providers DirecTV, a unit of ORG, and ORG, it cut the total price to $MONEY for consumers who pre-pay for DATE of programming.
+Programming costs from $MONEY a month for CARDINAL channels on DirecTV to $MONEY a month for all CARDINAL channels on DirecTV.
+The lower price -- while welcome for consumers -- will make it harder for new entrants to break into the market and make a profit.
+Other consumer electronics giants, ORG, ORG, ORG and ORG have announced plans to introduce new ORG systems DATE.
+Thomson will make the dishes for ORG and ORG.
+""We know the telcos and the cable companies are getting more involved,"" PERSON said. ""We are going to capitalise on our strengths now.""
+He added that the $MONEY price will make the ""awareness base explode.""
+Thomson has PERCENT of the digital satellite system dish market, which amounted to CARDINAL units worldwide at DATE, according to ORG.
+""It's been a real winner for them,"" said PERSON, an analyst at the market research firm in GPE, GPE ""Plus it has launched them into the international marketplace.""
+Schaeffler said satellite television is gaining markets outside GPE where there is no cable service because it does not require installing massive cable systems.
+""Most of the rest of the world is not very cable wired, so there is a clear opportunity for direct broadcast satellite,"" PERSON said. ORG is also becoming big in this country while vaunted digital cable systems undergo trials.
+New competitors see an opportunity in digital satellites -- a technology that is already here and working. ORG, aligned with PERSON ORG, already has a valuable GPE satellite slot.
+The move to cut prices to gain market share is changing the industry, which ORG said is moving more toward a cellular telephone model, where the hardware is the lowest cost -- sometimes practically nothing -- and revenues come from services and programming.
+""They have to fight within the industry and competitors from outside the industry,"" PERSON said. ""They are doing the rebates because of the market share. It's a combination of PRODUCT pushing everyone to a lower price point nationally and the effort to maintain and acquire future markets.""
+Asked how low prices of satellite dishes could go, PERSON joked that he had never seen prices in consumer electronics products go up. Other analysts also expect prices to keep falling.
+""Maybe PERSON will take it to CARDINAL, but I don't think we will,"" PERSON said of ORG Chairman PERSON.
+A spokeswoman said ORG, Colo.-based PRODUCT, which launched its satellite network in DATE, already has CARDINAL subscribers for its programming, which has CARDINAL TV channels and CARDINAL channels of music, compared with CARDINAL channels offered by DirecTV.
+The launch DATE of a ORDINAL satellite will increase its offerings to up to CARDINAL channels, ORG said.","GPE stocks ended weaker amid profit taking on DATE, but not before GPE's biggest stock market had struggled to a new intraday high.
+The TSE 300 Composite Index fell CARDINAL points to close at CARDINAL in brisk turnover of CARDINAL shares valued at MONEY (MONEY).
+Declining stocks outpaced advances CARDINAL to CARDINAL with CARDINAL issues unchanged.
+""The story DATE was profit-taking,"" said PERSON, an investment adviser with ORG. The ORG posted its ORDINAL record close on DATE and also broke through the key DATE barrier.
+The ORG managed to hit an intraday high of CARDINAL before turning lower on DATE.
+GPE's CARDINAL weak sectors included sharp losses in consumer products, base metals, communications and pipelines.
+The CARDINAL strong groups were led by financial services. ORG stocks rallied along with firmer NORP bond markets and on expectations for ORG rate cut next weak.
+Analysts said the strong NORP dollar has given the central bank enough leeway to lower rates.
+The NORP currency closed stronger at C$MONEY (US$MONEY) on DATE, the strongest the unit has been since DATE.
+--- HOT STOCKS ---
+* ORG led active stocks, sinking CARDINAL to CARDINAL on CARDINAL shares. The stock fell on profit taking and continued investor jitters about ORG alliance with a firm controlled by NORP president PERSON's son.
+* Among bank stocks, ORG rose CARDINAL to end at CARDINAL after earlier hitting a DATE high of CARDINAL.
+ORG jumped CARDINAL to close at CARDINAL after hitting a DATE peak of CARDINAL.
+* ORG fell CARDINAL to CARDINAL after the struggling airline unveiled a survival plan amid heavy financial losses. Rival ORG gained CARDINAL to CARDINAL on CARDINAL shares.
+* Luxury hotel operator ORG Hotels Inc jumped CARDINAL to CARDINAL after announcing plans to sell its stake in its GPE hotel for MONEY (MONEY). ORG said it will continue to manage the hotel.",0
+"ORG, the largest GPE hospital company, DATE agreed to buy pharmacy benefits management firm ORG for MONEY in stock.
+The deal caused concern on Wall Street, which sold off ORG shares. Its stock fell MONEY on ORG.
+Some analysts said the acquisition signalled that ORG intended to set itself up as a competitor to health insurers and HMOs, many of which are its customers, in a strategy that could have huge repercussions in the healthcare business.
+""If anybody was unclear about ORG's intentions before DATE, they certainly shouldn't be anymore,"" said ORG healthcare industry analyst PERSON.
+Other analysts viewed the ORG deal as essentially defensive, gaining for ORG some of the same buying power its biggest customers enjoy and sometimes use against it.
+""There will be a point where ORG will compete with HMOs and payors,"" said an analyst who asked not to be identified.
+When DATE comes, ORG wants to be sure it can offer consumers a package of healthcare services as integrated and affordable as those of its rivals, he suggested.
+""Value Health fits well into ORG's integrated delivery system and increases our ability to be a full service provider of healthcare services for our patients and customers,"" ORG Chairman PERSON said in a statement.
+For ORG, Conn.-based ORG, which had DATE revenues of MONEY, the proposed ORG deal ends a long process of shopping for suitors. ""ORG has been on the block for a while,"" said ORG-ORG healthcare industry analyst PERSON.
+ORG was rumoured in DATE to have received a buyout offer from ORG of MONEY per share, analysts said. At the time, drug manufacturers were busily acquiring pharmaceutical benefits managers, with the notion that they could sell more drugs through them.
+Since then, ORG stock price has dropped from a trading range in the high $50s to $MONEY, up $MONEY, DATE. On a per-share basis, the ORG stock transaction proposal is worth MONEY per share, based on DATE's closing price of ORG, analysts said.
+""I don't think there's going to be a competing bid because everyone has had a chance to see ORG by now,"" said PERSON healthcare industry analyst PERSON.
+In the rapidly changing healthcare business, GPE, Tenn.-based ORG, with DATE revenues estimated to total MONEY, is in a class by itself.
+It operates CARDINAL hospitals, CARDINAL surgery centres, CARDINAL home health locations and a pharmacy benefits management operation of its own. No other hospital company approaches its size and its decisions have far-reaching impact on drugs, medical devices and virtually every other healthcare market.
+DATE, ORG said it intended to buy for MONEY most of GPE-based ORG and ORG of GPE, a health insurer that covers CARDINAL people.
+With ORG's ORG deal awaiting GPE regulatory clearance, the ORG deal heightens fears that ORG sees its future extending beyond hospitals, analysts said.
+At the same time, PERSON analyst PERSON said the ORG deal did not pose a direct challenge to insurers and HMOs. ""ORG is not an ORG. It's a company that sells services to HMOs ... (ORG) is stopping short of competing with HMOs,"" ORG said.
+Columbia did not immediately return telephone calls.","ORG said DATE it agreed to acquire ORGamp; ORG for MONEY, creating by some counts the world's largest insurance and risk consulting company.
+Aon, a GPE-based insurance holding company, said it will pay $MONEY a share, or MONEY, for ORGamp; PERSON's common stock and MONEY to holders of the company's preferred stock.
+PERSON and office closings are expected to follow the deal as ORG moves to cut cost, analysts said.
+With offices around the world, ORG employs CARDINAL people; ORGamp; ORG CARDINAL.
+""You have to assume every place there's an ORG office and an NORP office, CARDINAL of them has got to close. And that's a lot of places,"" said ORGamp; Co. insurance analyst PERSON.
+Aon Chairman PERSON said he could not estimate possible job cuts.
+""I don't think you should look for huge layoffs,"" he said.
+ORGamp; ORG's stock jumped $MONEY to $MONEY, while ORG rose MONEY, both on ORG.
+ORGamp; ORG, based in GPE, is the ORDINAL-largest insurance broker in the world. It has operations in CARDINAL countries, primarily GPE, GPE and GPE.
+After its acquisition of ORGamp; ORG, PERSON will become either the largest or ORDINAL-largest insurance broker in the world.
+How it will size up against rival giant ORGamp; PERSON. Inc. depends on how their operations are counted, PERSON said. ""It's not apples to apples,"" he said.
+Aon said it will begin a cash tender offer for ORGamp; PERSON's common shares no later than DATE and upon completion of the tender offer the purchase of the preferred shares will begin.
+""Virtually everyone who watches the insurance industry has been expecting this deal,"" said PERSON insurance analyst PERSON.
+""It's a fair price. A&A has been struggling for DATE. There will be tremendous economies of scale to come out of this as A&A is folded into PERSON,"" ORG said.
+Analysts said they would expect PERSON to head up the combined operations and ORGamp; ORG Chairman and Chief Executive Officer PERSON to step aside.
+""I would have to assume that PERSON would not be around,"" ORG said.
+The deal was approved unanimously by the boards of both companies, ORG said.
+Over DATE, the insurance industry has become increasingly competitive and insurers have been forced to hold down premium rate increases, which has put downward pressure on their profit margins.
+""There's no end in sight to the DATE soft market,"" ORG said.
+Competition has pressured companies to look for strategic alternatives and led to industry consolidation.
+Aon in DATE completed a MONEY acquisition of ORG from GPE's PRODUCT. The ORGamp; ORG deal likely caps PERSON's acquisition drive for now, analysts said.
+""The industry has been consolidating. Certainly people have been expecting us to continue to be a leader in that,"" PERSON said. ""We've made CARDINAL what we think to be strategic and good acquisitions. Now we've got to put them together.""
+Aon added that its offer was still subject to several conditions, including the tender and non-withdrawal of at least a majority of the voting power of A&A's common shares, and various regulatory approvals.",1
+"The most magnificent building of old GPE -- the former ORGamp; ORG headquarters on the waterfront LOC -- became a bank once again on DATE, with a state-run GPE bank renting it from the city.
+In a signing ceremony in the huge main banking hall of the building, first opened in DATE, ORG took out a DATE lease on the structure.
+The ceremony marked the failure of the city's search to find a foreign bank to rent or buy the structure, long the city's main landmark.
+The city had tried to interest a foreign bank in the QUANTITY building, and spent DATE discussing terms with ORG.
+But they failed to reach agreement and ORG, which is owned by ORG, finally announced it would not to take it back.
+Bankers said the city asked for an unrealistically high price and that the building was unsuited for modern banking.
+The bank, once a symbol of the financial power of the NORP empire, was also the GPE headquarters of ORG from DATE until DATE, when city officials moved out, leaving it empty and echoing.
+The chairman of the GPE bank, PERSON, told reporters that his bank would pay an DATE rent of MONEY (MONEY) for the building, amounting to MONEY per square metre per day.
+GPE, GPE's main development zone across LOC from the LOC and the bank building, is earmarked to become the new financial heart of the city.
+ORG is building its own multi-storey headquarters there that will be ready in DATE, PERSON said.
+""We will use this building as the bank's headquarters until the new building is ready,"" PERSON said.
+The building and the GPE development bank are both basically owned by the GPE city government, and some analysts said the lease agreement had little significance.
+""It's the left hand moving money to the right hand,"" said CARDINAL analyst with a foreign bank in GPE.
+But Zhuang denied this was the case.
+""We are an independent economic unit and this is a commercial deal,"" he said, adding that the bank would consider sub-letting space in the huge building.
+(MONEY)","GPE's personal bank deposits, which surged in DATE to stratospheric levels, have begun to grow more slowly as a result of CARDINAL bank interest rate cuts DATE, bankers and analysts said on DATE.
+But the growth rate is still high -- PERCENT year-on-year -- and the huge deposits in the banks still pose a threat to the economy, with the possibility of fanning inflation, if the money is released into the market, they said.
+However, there is little chance that the deposits will be unleashed in the short term because the authorities are determined to maintain their tight monetary policy, they said.
+By DATE, individual NORP deposits totalled MONEY (MONEY), thanks largely to high interest rates set by authorities to drain money from the system and cool inflation, which hit a high of PERCENT in DATE, analysts said.
+But the growth of the deposits began to slow down DATE.
+In DATE, individual bank deposits increased by PERCENT year-on-year, slowing to PERCENT growth in DATE, according to figures by ORG, the central bank.
+""The trend is changing,"" said a GPE-based banker with ORG (ORG). ""With the central government reducing interest rates and supporting the securities market, some money is moving elsewhere.""
+""Despite the change, the huge amount (of deposits) continues to be a tiger in a cage,"" said another banker with GPE-based ORG. ""If released into the market, it would pose a serious threat to push inflation up again.""
+The central bank sliced interest rates in DATE and DATE with the DATE rate for DATE fixed deposits reduced to PERCENT after both cuts, from a very high PERCENT rate up to May.
+In DATE, it also abolished an inflationary subsidy for long-term bank deposits of DATE and above.
+The cuts followed steady declines in the nation's inflation rate, which has dropped to PERCENT DATE from PERCENT DATE.
+Analysts said the interest rate cuts signalled a cautious relaxation of GPE's tight monetary policy, begun in DATE to cool an overheated economy characterised by surging inflation.
+But GPE will continue to keep a tight control on credit with the money supply remaining very high and the danger of reigniting inflation still present, they said.
+""Experience since DATE has proved that if we do not insist on tight monetary policy, high economic growth rates and the downward trend on inflation will be unsustainable,"" a central bank official said DATE.
+GPE's broad CARDINAL supply increased by a year-on-year PERCENT by DATE, slightly less than DATE PERCENT growth.
+GPE has set the CARDINAL target at PERCENT for DATE.
+""The problem can only be solved when macro-economic conditions allow a complete relaxation of austerity measures and when interest rates are further cut to the level (where) the deposits can be gradually absorbed,"" said an ORG official.
+($MONEY = MONEY)",1
+"The world potash market is churning, and GPE's huge ORG is in the middle of the upheaval.
+Since ORG, the world's biggest potash producer, said DATE it had entered into talks to buy a controlling stake in a major NORP potash firm, its stock has zigzagged as the market comes to terms with a quickly changing picture of the potash world.  
+""You're getting into an interesting part of the fertilizer world, and I don't know what will happen,"" said PERSON, a potash analyst for ORG in GPE.
+""It's going to be really curious.""
+Potash Corp wants to acquire a PERCENT interest in ORG ORG from NORP chemical conglomerate ORG. If it succeeds, ORG would control PERCENT of GPE's CARDINAL potash market.
+The deal would boost the NORP company's share of world production capacity to PERCENT from PERCENT, analysts have said.  
+But there is another player waiting in the wings, promising to make ORG consolidation plans more intriguing.
+ORG of GPE has made an important potash discovery in GPE. The company says exploration so far has shown CARDINAL mine is economical.
+""We believe we've got the potential for than one,"" LOC president PERSON said in an interview. ""It may be CARDINAL, it may be CARDINAL or whatever.""  
+PERSON believes the property will be producing QUANTITY of potash by DATE and CARDINAL by DATE -- a sizable chunk of the world's current production of QUANTITY DATE.
+While ORG plans to take develop the mines itself, it has signed confidentiality agreements with CARDINAL companies in the hopes of finding a partner, said PERSON.
+PERSON is not among them, he said.  
+He hopes CARDINAL of the CARDINAL will sign non-binding agreements with LOC by DATE and CARDINAL will emerge as a partner by DATE.
+The attraction of LOC find is its location, said analyst PERSON with ORG in GPE.
+""These mines appear to have twice the margin per tonne that Saskatchewan Potash gets, because it's so close to the market that imports all of it,"" ORG said.
+GPE and LOC are growing potash consumers, he said, and the NORP deposits are convenient.  
+But PERSON has no plans to take on ORG for its market share.
+""We have no interest in getting into a tussel with existing suppliers to that region,"" he said.
+The growing market will be big enough for everyone, he said.
+But market growth depends on healthy economic growth in LOC, said PERSON, senior minerals analyst for federal department ORG.
+In DATE, the type of potash produced by ORG had a surplus supply capacity of QUANTITY, he said.  
+""Any new major project would be jeopardizing current supply arrangements.""
+The recent developments have the stock market in a tizzy. ORG shares soared on news of its negotiations in GPE, but it has been a volatile ride for the stock since then.
+The stock dropped off DATE after a GPE brokerage downgraded it from a buy to an outperform. But it was up C$MONEY to C$MONEY on DATE, due to hedge buying by fertilizer distributors trying to sidestep an expected potash price increase, analysts said.  
+""It will remain volatile until this deal with GPE is settled and until APQ is settled,"" said ORG.
+LOC lost C$MONEY, falling to C$MONEY, but the stock has been climbing steadily on news from GPE.
+-- ORG CARDINAL CARDINAL","GPE's Trade Minister PERSON is in good health and will leave DATE TIME for an international conference in GPE, despite being taken to hospital DATE after he collapsed at a meeting here.
+""The last thing I heard was he's still going to GPE,"" PERSON's spokeswoman PERSON told ORG by telephone from in GPE. ""His health is great. It doesn't appear that anything is broken.""  
+Speakers had just finished addressing a luncheon audience of businessmen and trade officials at GPE's ORG when PERSON, DATE, tripped as he got up to leave the head table.
+""There was a gap in the floorboards and he went right through them,"" PERSON said.
+Other dignitaries helped PERSON, pale and shaky, to a chair where he waited with his head resting on a table until ambulance attendants arrived. The attendants strapped on an oxygen mask and carried PERSON out on a stretcher.  
+Witnesses said he twisted his ankle as he fell and landed on his knee.
+PERSON had been expected to speak at the luncheon with NORP President PERSON. GPE and GPE signed a free trade pact in GPE on DATE.
+PERSON plans to leave for GPE on TIME for ORG (ORG) DATE meeting and leaders summit.
+He is scheduled to accompany NORP Prime Minister PERSON to GPE and GPE after the ORG conference.",1
+"ORG supplier of pinstriped suits to generations of NORP businessmen, said on DATE that a return to favour with women executives helped to boost its DATE profits and sales.
+The group, which has around CARDINAL stores in the GPE and sells its classic-cut styles in LOC, GPE and the GPE, saw ORDINAL CARDINAL profits PERCENT to MONEY (MONEY) while sales climbed PERCENT to MONEY.
+New chief executive PERSON said in an interview that a turnaround in womens' clothing, which now accounts for PERCENT of sales, was a key factor behind the gains.
+He said the DATE spring collection for women had been a ""bit of disaster,"" when PERSON ranges ""didn't sell and we had to substantially discount to get rid of stock, so we are delighted by the way it's come back so successfully.""
+PERSON, which began life in DATE as a gentlemen's outfitters in FAC in the heart of the City, said there are encouraging signs of a rise in GPE consumer activity.
+""We are trading in a very competitive market,"" PERSON said, but he added that the group's DATE sales are ahead by PERCENT so far from DATE.
+The company plans to step up sales of its branded clothing through NORP, NORP and NORP retailers in particular.
+""The PERSON brand is well known in LOC, being a quintessentially NORP brand, and I think there are tremendous opportunities to expand that,"" PERSON said.
+It is also looking to expand its GPE retail chain, with new outlets in the heart of GPE's financial district, a new shopping centre in GPE and the upmarket PERSON dormitory town of Wilmslow all in its sights. ($MONEY Pound)","NORP and foreign oil companies signed a MONEY deal on DATE to build a pipeline bringing oil from energy-rich GPE to Western markets, but frantic TIME negotiations left questions unresolved.
+In a delayed signing ceremony that saw GPE's leading oil officials huddling for secret consultations, ORG inked documents splitting itself into CARDINAL for tax reasons.
+GPE said its oil pipeline monopoly LOC might still take a stake. The role of GPE has been a contentious issue among CPC members and a key negotiating point.
+But the signing raised questions over how much closer CPC is to resolving differences and getting its pipeline project off the ground.
+""We are extremely satisfied with the commercial structure that has been accomplished and we believe it offers a realistic approach to such an important project,"" said ORG senior Vice-President PERSON.
+""We are anxious now to move it to the next stage and hope that a share acquisition will be accomplished by DATE and that construction will begin DATE.""
+A raft of officials, including ORG President PERSON, ORG Minister PERSON, former Fuel and Energy Minister PERSON, Deputy Fuel and Energy Minister PERSON, attended the signing.
+ORG spokesman PERSON said the CARDINAL entities -- CPC GPE and CPC GPE -- would have an identical management structure.
+But NORP Deputy Prime Minister PERSON said it had not yet been decided whether GPE would acquire the NORP government's PERCENT stake in the consortium.
+ORG will own PERCENT in the CPC, GPE's PERCENT, ORG and GPE's PERCENT each, ORG and GPE's Agip SpA PERCENT each, and ORG and GPE's ORG each.
+PERCENT is divided between GPE (PERCENT), GPE (PERCENT) and GPE (PERCENT).
+NORP Chief Executive Officer PERSON told ORG that the firm wanted GPE's entire PERCENT stake -- a demand that could delay the project even further.
+CPC, set up in DATE, is seeking to build a QUANTITY (QUANTITY) pipeline linking GPE's ORG oil field and GPE's LOC oil expot outlet PRODUCT.
+ORG and ORG, with a MONEY oil project in ORG, are the main future customers of the CPC pipeline.
+Officials signed the deal in a GPE hotel conference area, but only after breaking out of negotiations repeatedly to run to corners of the room and consult.
+""This concludes the ORDINAL phase of the project,"" PERSON said. ""Now a follow-up step, which will be no easier than what we accomplished DATE, must be made -- project implementation.""
+CPC nominated LOC as operator, but CPC sources said they had a stringent list of conditions PERSON had to agree to and fulfill if it wanted the role.
+ORG said NORP firms bidding to construct the link would have to do so jointly with NORP or PERSON partners and said the latter would be given preference as equipment suppliers.
+""From our point of view, GPE has been designated as an operator,"" ORG's PERSON told ORG, adding that the group must still negotiate an operating agreement.
+""For DATE, we failed to find a common language,"" PERSON said, adding that he was pleased with the deal.
+The pipeline will initially move QUANTITY a year (QUANTITY per day) of ORG and possibly NORP crude and will have a peak capacity of QUANTITY a year (CARDINAL bpd).",0
+"ORG on DATE asked for firm offers for the company to be tabled by DATE as it emerged that more potential bidders had joined the auction for the mutually-owned insurance group.
+CARDINAL companies were already known to have signed confidentiality agreements which give access to GPE's books - Abbey National, ORG and ORG (ORG).
+But a source close to the deal said that others had also signed the agreements and that potential bidders were now ""certainly CARDINAL.""
+ScotAm said that all interested parties would be requested to table firm offers by DATE.
+A spokesman for FAC declined to comment on either the number or the identity of companies who had signed the confidentiality agreements.
+CARDINAL possibility is NORP insurance group ORG whose acquistion of ORG has already demonstrated its ability to provide extra capital to develop the business according to industry experts.
+Another firm rumoured to have contemplated a bid, NORP-Dutch insurer GPE is reported to have ruled a bid out and ORG said DATE it was not interested in bidding.
+ORG chief executive PERSON said that the company had run a slide-rule over ScotAm but that the bid premium looked too high.
+Meanwhile, The Scotsman newspaper on DATE reported that ORG is considering moving its ORG-based subsidiary ORG to GPE if its ORG bid is successful.
+The paper said that ORG would use GPE to expand into LOC, and that it placed considerable importance on the PERSON office of ORG (ORG).
+The ORG and ORG are believed to have plans to downscale or close ORG, the paper said.
+Following the receipt of bids, ScotAm will hold further discussions after which bidders will be required to submit final, binding proposals.
+At the end of the process, the board will recommend a single proposal and an announcement of the recommended acquiror is expected to be made by DATE.
+Under the terms of the confidentiality agreements the decision of the board is final.
+""We believe the process we are publishing DATE will maximise value for policyholders and will be seen to have done so,"" ScotAm's chairman PERSON said.
+In a move which may help deflect criticism of the sealed bid process, ScotAm said it would make firm offers public, if required to do so by a bidder.
+In addition, ORGamp; Industry and an independent actuary will be consulted fully prior to the announcement of the recommended offer.
+ScotAm will also outline the board's reasons for its recommendation, the criteria used and summarise the relevant information on all ""competitive proposals"".
+The circular to policyholders outlining the final bid is likely some time in May.
+PERSON sparked the auction at DATE when it announced it was prepared to pay QUANTITY MONEY for GPE, DATE after ScotAm unveiled its own proposals to drop mutual status and float on the stock market.
+The PERSON offer was topped DATE by the ORG's CARDINAL bid.
+Both companies have said that their offers may be raised when they have more detailed financial information on ScotAm.","CARDINAL of GPE's CARDINAL biggest life insurers said on DATE that they experienced a drop in assets in DATE of DATE, the ORDINAL such fall in DATE.
+Executives attributed the decline to a cancellation of pension fund management contracts after the firms cut their guaranteed rate of return in DATE.
+""It was the ORDINAL time we have seen a drop in assets since we started announcing our interim business reports (DATE),"" said PERSON, managing director of ORG ""It would probably be the ORDINAL time we have experienced a decline in our assets since EVENT.""
+Combined assets at the CARDINAL firms totalled MONEY (MONEY) at DATE, down PERCENT from MONEY (MONEY) at DATE.
+Only ORG, the biggest life insurer in GPE, increased its assets -- to MONEY (MONEY) from MONEY (MONEY).
+The other firms are ORG, ORG, ORG, ORG, ORG and ORG.
+Assets of the CARDINAL account for PERCENT of the total assets held by all NORP life insurers.
+The executives said that some corporate pension funds and ORG (PWSPC) -- an affiliate of ORG -- had cancelled fund management contracts in DATE of CARDINAL, due to a cutback in the guaranteed rate of return offered by life insurers to PERCENT from PERCENT.
+The PWSPC said DATE that it had cancelled MONEY (MONEY) worth of fund management contracts with CARDINAL life insurers.
+However, some insurers were optimistic and said the decline in assets was only a temporary phenomenon.
+""I think the cancellation of pension funds peaked out in DATE and assets at DATE will likely recover to the same level as at DATE,"" said PERSON, senior managing director at ORG.
+Analysts said that despite the decline in assets, the profitability of the insurers was improving.
+A serious headache for the insurers has been the negative spread between current low investment yields and already promised payouts, they said. Since the cancellation of pension fund management contracts, the gap has been narrowing.
+The payouts are calculated based on prospective investment yields at the time insurance policies were written.
+ORG ORG said the overall average guaranteed rate of return offered by life insurers would fall to PERCENT in CARDINAL from PERCENT in CARDINAL, while investment yields would remain low at PERCENT.
+The CARDINAL firms also announced a combined MONEY (MONEY) of problem loans as of DATE, the ORDINAL time they had revealed such statistics.
+They said that at DATE the amount of this total classified as ""bad loans"" -- loans to bankrupt companies and those on which interest payments are in arrears of DATE or more -- was MONEY (MONEY).
+An official at ORG said the firm would DATE dispose of MONEY (MONEY) of problem loans made to its non-bank affiliates in an effort to cut them back to a manageable level. At DATE ORG had MONEY (MONEY) of problem loans, more than any of the CARDINAL insurers. (MONEY)",0
+"PERSON chairman PERSON said on DATE the GPE food group was in deal talks with prospective buyers and would sell substantial businesses by DATE.
+""By DATE, the businesses will have a leaner focus,"" PERSON said in a telephone interview.  
+O'Reilly declined to identify the businesses on the auction block or estimate how much cash the properties would bring ORG, a leading GPE food products group which dominates several lines, such as canned tuna fish.
+""If I tell you, that's where the bargaining will start,"" O'Reilly said.
+He said ORG was in contact with CARDINAL potential buyers.  
+The executive said ORG will trim down to CARDINAL business clusters: food-service products, pet food, infant formula outside GPE, condiments such as ketchup, and weight-loss services and products.
+A ORDINAL to a fourth of ORG businesses are estimated to be outside those areas.
+""The buzz word now is focus,"" O'Reilly said.
+ORG, based in GPE, has scheduled a Wall Street analysts' meeting in DATE on the asset sales.
+O'Reilly repeated that ORG should post a double-digit percentage profit increase in DATE.
+The company DATE repeated DATE share profits of $MONEY, up from $MONEY DATE, and said most businesses performed well.  An exception was ORG diet classes and foods.
+ORG shares were up CARDINAL to CARDINAL.
+-- GPE newsroom, CARDINAL-374-5013","Upscale apparel retailer ORG DATE posted a PERCENT increase in earnings for DATE as it boosted sales and reduced markdowns.
+For DATE, PERSON posted sales of MONEY, up PERCENT over DATE MONEY. Net income rose to MONEY, or MONEY a share, from MONEY, or MONEY a share, DATE.
+When certain CARDINAL-time gains and costs were excluded, the company earned MONEY a share, compared with a Wall Street consensus forecast of MONEY, said ORG analyst PERSON.
+He and other analysts said they expected to raise their estimates.
+""It was DATE,"" said PERSON ORGamp; Co. in GPE, GPE
+She noted the company had a difficult summer because of an over-reliance on unpopular body-hugging fashions and a merchandise reconfiguration that confused customers and sales executives.
+The result was heavy markdowns in DATE and DATE that ate into earnings, but company executives said the deepest of the markdowns appear to be behind them.
+""They sacrificed the short term for what will be very beenficial for them in the long term,"" Groves said.
+She said the merchandise reconfiguration, aimed at bringing the company's clothing selections more into line with its customer base, has ""rejuvenated the company.""
+""I think you're going to see some great numbers in DATE,"" she said.
+PERSON said comparable-store sales, a closely watched measure of industry performance, fell PERCENT in DATE but were up PERCENT for DATE.
+And executives told analysts in a conference call that their plans called for comparable-store sales to rise PERCENT in DATE compared with a relatively weak DATE period.
+""We have plenty of ability to respond to sales above that,"" WORK_OF_ART said in the conference call.
+Comparable-store sales are adjusted to represent only that retail space that has been open DATE.
+PERSON has opened several new stores DATE and plans to open CARDINAL new department stores and several smaller stores DATE, adding QUANTITY of store space to its current total of CARDINAL, executives said.",0
+"CARDINAL of the hottest topics DATE at an Internet show is so-called ""push technology,"" which directly broadcasts customized news to a networked PC, but it is also already seen as the next area ripe for a shakeout.
+Internet broadcasters are lead by companies like ORG, a privately-held firm in GPE, GPE, which announced a major deal with ORG on DATE.
+PointCast of GPE, GPE, and several other start-up companies deliver customized news, or specific Web sites, depending on the service, to consumer or corporate users, several times a day, so that a user doesn't have to go to the Internet and wait, the content is delivered.
+""Making the Internet a broadcast medium is a direction that a lot of companies are going in, but that's already really crowded,"" said PERSON, an analyst with ORG
+At Internet World, there are several privately-held push technology companies that are exhibiting and demonstrating their service, and trying to differentiate themselves amid all the hype about Internet broadcasting.
+PointCast was the ORDINAL company to develop these systems, called personalized broadcast systems, and it now has CARDINAL subscribers. It delivers news from ORG, ORG, ORG, and now, ORG, the online venture of ORG and ORG ORG.
+PointCast and most of the other startup companies all operate on the same model, which is an advertising-based model. These companies sell advertising space on their service and offer the service for free to subscribers. By building up lots of subscribers, they can gain more advertising revenue.
+The deal ORG signed DATE with ORG has the potential to significantly expand its subscriber base, because ORG will become part of its next generation desktop software.
+The GPE-based ORG said in a study to be soon released that the Internet broadcasting market will significantly affect the way companies collect advertising dollars on the World Wide Web.
+Yankee is predicting that by DATE, Internet broadcasting will be worth MONEY in revenues.
+But with many more companies arriving on the scene and ORG and ORG getting into this market, consolidation in on the horizon, because media companies will not want to develop a channel for each delivery system, most of which for now are proprietary.
+""There is no way I am going to download all CARDINAL of these, and I am in the industry,"" said PERSON, CARDINAL of the founders of ORG Corp. ""This is a huge issue.""
+Even the players themselves are also predicting a shakeout, but each company predicts it will be one of the winners.
+Some of the other players include PRODUCT, which was recently purchased by ORG Freeloader lets subcribers customize whatever Web sites they want delivered to their desktop, plus the news that is available on Individual.
+""Clearly there will be a big shakeout,"" said PERSON, president of ORG. ""PointCast clearly stands out and we will be CARDINAL of them (survivors).""
+Another talked about startup, called ORG, is offering television-like content with video and audio in its service which will be introduced DATE, called PRODUCT. The company also offers development for media companies.
+""Ultimately there will be some sort of shakeout and we will be left standing,"" said PERSON, director of content development at ORG, based in GPE.","ORG said DATE it was starting a major expansion of its online network and planned to spend MONEY through the end of its DATE in DATE to build capacity and improve service.
+The nation's largest online service provider said it was upgrading its network to meet the surge in demand generated by its new pricing and recent marketing initiatives. As of DATE, ORG began offering a new flat-rate pricing plan to its CARDINAL subscribers.
+ORG said it will double its system hardware over DATE, which would grow large enough to cover nearly CARDINAL football fields.
+Since DATE, ORG has doubled its electronic mail capacity and its capability to connect users to the Internet's popular WORK_OF_ART Web.
+An GPE Online spokesman said that despite heavy usage over the DATE, there were no serious problems with its online network.
+The GPE, Va.-based company said that since DATE, it has added CARDINAL of new modems to ORG, which it said was the world's largest dial-in network. The expansion is to accelerate through DATE with CARDINAL of new modems being installed DATE, it added.
+ORG, the world's largest online service, recently sent out postcards to its members about the new pricing plan of $MONEY a month for unlimited use of the service.
+The postcards also warned members that the company expected a slowdown in its service during peak TIME on DATE, as users celebrated the flat-fee by going online for TIME. ""There were no serious problems,"" the spokesman said.
+Analysts said with more new users expected, ORG needs to upgrade its network, especially after its TIME outage on DATE, which happened during regular maintenance caused by a software glitch and angered many users.
+Already DATE, ORG's subscriber growth is on the rebound, and in DATE, the company added CARDINAL new members. In DATE, ORG was hurting from a slowdown in subscriber growth.
+The online service provider did not make any further mention of the recent investigation into its pricing policy by the attorneys general of CARDINAL states.
+DATE, ORG said it had received inquiries from states' attorneys general expressing concern with how it was implementing and disclosing the new pricing plans to members. A spokesman said at the time that its plan and the implementation was ""fair in every sense.""
+DATE, the attorney general of the state of GPE signed a letter of agreement with ORG, resolving allegations that ORG had violated GPE's Consumer Protection Act by planning to bill subscribers the new $MONEY rate for unlimited service, without their positive assent to it.
+ORG agreed to notify customers of the upcoming price changes by using a ""pop-up"" screen which appears when members sign on. Customers must choose CARDINAL pricing plan by DATE.",1
+"GPE's ORG announced on DATE that a court has rejected the appeal of a son of one of the country's political elite, upholding a suspended death sentence for bribery.
+The appellate court showed leniency because PERSON, DATE, former chairman of GPE-listed affiliates of the giant state-owned ORG (PERSON), showed remorse, the ORG said, quoting ORG.
+NORP courts frequently impose the death penalty in corruption cases but as PERSON's death sentence was suspended for DATE it could be commuted to life imprisonment by the time it was due to be carried out, as is often the case in GPE.
+PERSON is one of GPE's so-called ""princelings"", the popular sobriquet applied to the children of the ruling party elite, who enjoy wide influence.
+The PERSON family has close ties to the family of paramount leader PERSON.
+The appellate court also showed leniency because PERSON voluntarily returned ill-gotten wealth during the investigation even before prosecutors obtained evidence against him, ORG said.
+PERSON was convicted of accepting bribes totalling MONEY (MONEY) DATE and DATE, ORG said. It gave no details of who paid PERSON the bribes or why.
+He was also found guilty of paying MONEY ($MONEY) in bribes to CARDINAL people, including CARDINAL former officials of the GPE city government, so that his wife and daughter could move to the NORP colony, it said.
+ORG did not say when PERSON appealed, when he was ORDINAL convicted or why the Beijing Higher People's Court rejected his appeal.
+Court officials reached by telephone declined to comment.
+PERSON's conviction was part of a highly-publicised anti-graft campaign launched by GPE DATE.
+The drive led to the suicide of a GPE vice-mayor in DATE and the fall of his mentor, former ORG boss PERSON.
+PERSON's father, PERSON, DATE, resigned as chairman and ORG secretary of GPE in DATE, citing old age following PERSON detention.
+PERSON has been restructured since PERSON downfall.
+The appellate court also rejected the appeal of co-defendant PERSON, DATE, a former senior official of the GPE city government, and upheld his DATE prison sentence for accepting bribes from PERSON, ORG said.
+Another former official of the GPE city government, PERSON, did not appeal against his sentence of life imprisonment also for accepting bribes from PERSON, the agency said.
+The appeal of a ORDINAL defendant who was sentenced to DATE was rejected while a ORDINAL defendant who was given DATE in prison did not appeal, it said.
+Corruption was virtually eliminated in DATE after the communists came to power in DATE, but has staged a comeback along with economic reforms in DATE.","GPE stocks closed weaker on DATE, dragged into negative territory by tarnished gold stocks and profit-taking.
+ORG key CARDINAL Composite Index fell CARDINAL points to finish at CARDINAL, the ORG's ORDINAL straight day of losses. Trading was brisk at CARDINAL shares worth MONEY (MONEY).
+Heavily-weighted gold stocks began DATE stronger, but turned softer amid volatile bullion prices.
+""We had a negative reversal in gold,"" said ORG analyst PERSON.
+GPE Walwyn analyst PERSON said investors reaped the benefits of GPE's recent rally by selling some holdings.
+""Little bit of profit-taking here and there,"" Best said, adding ""it's been a heck of a run.""
+Toronto posted CARDINAL record closing highs during a DATE winning streak which was broken by DATE's decline.
+Beattie said short-term losses could be expected after a gain of CARDINAL points. ""A CARDINAL-to-three day pull-back is not surprising,"" she said.
+Traders began DATE nervously awaiting comments by ORG Chairman PERSON on the GPE economy, but his generally upbeat assessment was a boost for Wall Street equities.
+In GPE, all CARDINAL sub-indices slipped except transportation, pipelines and real estate. Falling sectors included consumer products, conglomerates, oils and media.
+Declining stocks outnumbered advances CARDINAL to CARDINAL with CARDINAL issues unchanged.
+Active stocks included oil and gas shares. ORG fell CARDINAL to CARDINAL on CARDINAL shares, topping the most-active list.
+Gold prospector PERSON fell CARDINAL to CARDINAL while ORG inched up CARDINAL to close at CARDINAL.
+PERSON said on DATE the only obstacle to a joint venture over the GPE gold deposit is agreements with CARDINAL of ORG NORP partners.
+ORG rose CARDINAL to a close at a DATE high of CARDINAL after announcing it would be flush with cash following a sale of non-strategic oil and gas properties.",0
+"GPE's crackdown on stock markets DATE is partly fuelled by fears in GPE that the volatility of the exchanges could lead to social instability, analysts said on DATE.
+They said the move was also aimed at avoiding disruption caused by foreign and domestic speculators planning to pump money into the markets up to the DATE handover of GPE from GPE to GPE and then pull it out again.
+""In a transitional period when the ailing leader PERSON is gradually moving out of polical arena, social stability is the primary concern of the leadership,"" said CARDINAL executive with a NORP brokerage.
+""Stock boom and bust cycles do not fit in with the aim of social stability,"" he added.
+A GPE-based broker said there had been many rumours that the surges on the GPE market were supported by overseas funds from GPE and GPE.
+""Some rumours said that foreign funds wanted to push up the NORP markets before the (GPE) takeover and depress them afterwards,"" the broker said.
+ORG newspaper, mouthpiece of ORG, said in a harshly-worded commentary on DATE that GPE's stock markets had overheated on widespread speculation. It warned that if the markets crashed, the government would not step in to support them.
+In anticipation of the response to the commentary, the stock exchanges DATE TIME introduced a PERCENT limit on movements of prices for individual shares.
+On DATE and again on DATE, most shares on both the GPE and GPE stock exchanges plunged to the PERCENT limit-down level.
+GPE's domestic A share index lost CARDINAL points or PERCENT to CARDINAL points after falling PERCENT on DATE. The B share index shed CARDINAL points or PERCENT to CARDINAL points.
+In GPE, the A index plummeted PERCENT to CARDINAL points while the B index dived PERCENT, to CARDINAL points.
+Most shares hit the DATE limit-down of PERCENT shortly after the opening, as on DATE, and stayed there for the whole session, brokers said.
+Since DATE, both domestic and foreign currency share prices on the CARDINAL markets have surged on average by PERCENT.
+""The central government has chosen the right time,"" said CARDINAL political analyst. ""There are still DATE to go before the GPE takeover and stock prices had not surged so far that falls would push investors out on to the streets (to demonstrate).""
+Some stock traders said that by talking down the markets, GPE had effectively prevented heavy fresh liquidity flowing in.
+""The inflow of hot money (speculative funds) has been cut off with retail investors frightened away and institutions taking heed of the warning,"" CARDINAL trader said.
+""It seems now that the markets will be stable around the date of the GPE takeover,"" he added. ""Prices are expected to move little after the impact of the crackdown is gradually digested.""","GPE's B shares fell once again on DATE with investors running scared in the face of reports that securities authorities would restrict mainland NORP from trading in B shares, traders said.
+GPE's foreign-currency B share index closed down CARDINAL points or PERCENT to CARDINAL points while GPE's B index fell CARDINAL points, or PERCENT, to CARDINAL.
+Securities authorities in GPE have contacted brokerages in the city, located across the border from GPE, telling them to not accept money from domestic investors for stock purchases unless they had proof the money came from abroad, traders said.
+An influx of funds from local investors has been at the heart of the spectacular rise in B shares over DATE, and fears that the tap would be turned off is making investors re-assess their positions, analysts said.
+NORP authorities have in the past expressed concern at domestic investors buying B shares, which were intended for foreign investors, saying it left locals vulnerable to the inflows and outflows of foreign money.
+GPE stocks reacted on DATE to the GPE reports, but analysts said GPE securities authorities had so far not issued the same warning to the city's brokerages.
+""The GPE crackdown has triggered fears it will spread to GPE,"" said a trader. ""Sentiment has been badly hurt.""
+""We have not heard of any crackdown in GPE. There is no indication of a crackdown here,"" said CARDINAL foreign broker.
+The broker said other factors in the GPE B market's fall were profit-taking and the issue of new ORG B shares, which started trading DATE at a lower price than the company's existing shares.
+He said the CARDINAL largest brokerages in GPE were believed to have stopped opening B share accounts for NORP nationals.
+""But large punters have ways to circumvent these regulations and have capital offshore,"" he said, adding that many retail investors could also easily call relatives abroad or in GPE to arrange transfers.
+""The CSRC (China Securities Regulatory Commission) is going for CARDINAL weak link in the trading arrangements... the flow of funds,"" said PERSON, chief representative of FAC in GPE.
+The GPE B index has risen PERCENT over DATE on expectations that GPE would take measures to support the market.
+""Profit-taking focused on cheap shares which rose the most during the surges of DATE,"" a trader said.
+ORG was the biggest loser, plunging $MONEY or PERCENT to $MONEY on volume of CARDINAL shares.
+GPE PERSON, which had surged PERCENT in DATE, was the ORDINAL biggest loser, shedding $MONEY or PERCENT to $MONEY, on heavy volume of CARDINAL shares.
+ORG, which listed CARDINAL shares on DATE, had the highest volume in inter-institutional trading, traders said. It lost $MONEY or PERCENT to $MONEY on volume of CARDINAL shares.
+GPE's A share index closed down CARDINAL points or PERCENT to CARDINAL points on a technical correction after repeatedly hitting DATE highs over the past few sessions, traders said. ORG CARDINAL-share blue-chip index lost CARDINAL points or PERCENT to 2952.753 points.
+Brokers said A share market sentiment was still good and the index would recover DATE after the powerful correction.",1
+"ORG said DATE it plans to apply its computer storage technology to handheld consumer electronics in a way that could lower the cost of saving and transfering data to such devices.
+The reusable data storage system, to be known as ""n-hand,"" could be used in digital cameras, computer game devices, cellular phones and handheld personal computers known as digital assistants.
+In cameras, for example, the technology could function as a removable ""digital film"" that would replace existing chemical photographic film.
+""Our n-hand technology ... has the potential to change the way consumers use portable electronic devices,"" said PERSON, president and chief executive of the PERSON, GPE-based company, in a statement.
+""We are bringing personal computer-like storage to portable devices,"" added PERSON, PERSON's director of marketing for new business, in a telephone interview.
+The n-hand disks are expected to be priced at MONEY for a QUANTITY disk, and could be available by DATE. PERSON said the n-hand disks are CARDINAL the size of a business card.
+Several industry analysts said they believe PERSON's technology could help propel digital cameras into the consumer mainstream within DATE, by freeing users from the fixed capacity of existing flash memory storage and by substantially reducing the overall cost of such cameras.
+A digital camera could store from CARDINAL CARDINAL images on MONEY n-hand disk, PERSON said, depending on image resolution. Consumers now pay MONEY for a flash memory card capable of holding the same number of images, it noted.
+PERSON, a data storage analyst with market research firm ORG, GPE, said the PERSON technology could cut the cost of storing photographs by a factor of CARDINAL times.
+A ORG digital camera costing $MONEY currently could be priced MONEY within DATE, he said, reflecting the elimination of more costly digital storage methods.
+PERSON's plans pose a theat to makers of flash memory chips that are used to store digital information in such small electronic devices currently. Leading makers including ORG, ORG and ORG
+In addition, the PERSON system could help accelerate the current digital transformation of the camera industry, leading to a decline in revenues that cameramakers receive from conventional silver halide-based photo film and equipment.
+""With 'n-hand' you have a digital camera that you can treat like a regular camera,"" ORG said, referring to the replaceable nature of the NORP high-density floppy disk system.
+""This technology can make digital cameras much more competitive with regular ones,"" he said.
+Besides lacking a low-cost removable storage medium, digital cameras offer inferior picture quality but image resolution is improving rapidly, analysts said. This could lead to explosive growth of the new cameras in DATE.
+Shares of the company closed up $MONEY to $MONEY on active trading on ORG. On DATE, PERSON's stock will begin trading on ORG.","ORG said DATE it would focus an increasing share of its resources on its midrange software business and reduce its reliance on mainframe software sales.
+In addition, CA President PERSON said in a phone interview he expected a charge ""in the MONEY range"" related to the planned acquisition of ORG It would be taken DATE DATE.
+PERSON also said the company's international sales growth had ""slowed some"" in DATE.  
+He said the acquisition was likely to be accounted for as an asset purchase with a CARDINAL-time writedown for research and development costs instead of a ""pooling of interests.""
+PERSON was confirming comments he and other ORG executives had made in a meeting with Wall Street analysts DATE TIME.
+Analysts who attended the meeting said news of the planned revenue transition and slowing in international sales led to a sharp drop in the company's stock. The decline came in spite of the announcement of fiscal DATE results that beat Wall Street expectations.",1
+"GPE's ORG could face a multi-MONEY lawsuit over the ownership of its spectacular GPE gold deposit in GPE.
+The young GPE-based company said DATE that CARDINAL of its NORP partners, PERSON, threatened it and CARDINAL others with legal action in NORP courts, claiming damages of MONEY.
+""I find it curious that PERSON has chosen to threaten a lawsuit in GPE relating to matters that allegedly occurred in GPE,"" PERSON chief executive PERSON said in a statement. ""However, we will sit down with them and listen to what they have to say.""
+PERSON owns an undisputed PERCENT of CARDINAL section of the Busang discovery. It claims it owns PERCENT of the entire deposit, but ORG says the NORP company does not have the documentation to back up its claims.
+PERSON, which closed down C$MONEY at CARDINAL in heavy trading on ORG, said DATE it had received a letter from its NORP partner demanding a meeting before DATE to resolve the dispute. If PERSON refuses or does not make an attempt to settle the argument, PERSON will sue, the letter said.
+ORG said it has asked its lawyers to arrange a meeting.
+""In my opinion, this (threat of a lawsuit) appears to be a last minute act of desperation,"" said gold analyst PERSON of ORG
+""My question is, why have they waited so long? And why did they choose to do this in GPE?""
+The dispute between ORG and PERSON, who is backed by GPE's FAC, became public at DATE.
+The argument prompted the NORP government to delay issuing vital contracts of work until the CARDINAL parties worked out their difficulties. Without the contracts, ORG cannot proceed with work on Busang and has had to stall its search for a major gold producer to operate or buy the discovery, analysts say.
+""The key is how the NORP government will react"" to the lawsuit, said PERSON.
+The threat of a lawsuit gives ORG a strong incentive to settle with PERSON and NORP businessman PERSON, who controls PERSON, said gold analyst PERSON of Deacon Capital.
+While most analysts said it was too early to tell whether the NORP case would stand up in NORP court, they said the threat of a lawsuit will definitely force ORG to treat the claims more seriously.
+""It reinforces the uncertainty with respect to ORG,"" said gold analyst PERSON of Maison Placements. ""My sense is this thing is not going away. This is more of a manoeuvring than an actual threat, but it does not look like this will end any time soon.""
+PERSON said in its letter that it will also sue the other NORP partners of ORG, some PERSON officers and GPE's ORG, which has a small stake in the discovery.
+Minorca president PERSON said his company has no reason to be involved.
+Exploration at Busang has outlined QUANTITY of gold so far, and some analysts predict there could be MONEY.","Confusion whirled around GPE's ORG on DATE after GPE's mines minister said the government canceled parliamentary approval for ORG application for essential contracts of work for the huge Busang gold deposit.
+PERSON asked that its stock be halted on ORG on DATE TIME so company officials could explain the news to the public, said PERSON, head of surveillance at the GPE exchange.
+Trading in ORG was also halted on Nasdaq.
+PERSON had not yet released a statement late in DATE's trading session, leaving investors and analysts trying to assess the impact of the minister's statements on ORG future.
+""Does ORG lose everything? We have no idea,"" said gold analyst PERSON. ""It's very unclear. We have to sit tight and wait for news out of GPE. There are many options open to the government right now.""
+Earlier on DATE, ORG Energy Minister PERSON spoke to reporters about PERSON application for vital contracts of work for Busang.
+""We cancel it. The Bre-X contract of work will be processed from the beginning,"" he said.
+The secretary-general of the ministry, PERSON, told a parliamentary commission hearing that the government was checking into representations ORG had made to NORP regulatory authorities.
+""I don't have an answer on what it means,"" said PERSON, a spokesman for GPE-based ORG .
+PERSON has been negotiating with ORG to form a joint venture to operate Busang after the NORP government asked the CARDINAL companies to work out a deal.
+The move has irked PERSON shareholders and other major gold companies wanting to bid on the CARDINAL deposit, but there were rumors on DATE that the NORP government may be considering an open bidding process.
+""We need to clarify what this means,"" said ORG. ""We are seeking to asctertain from both PERSON and ORG what impact the parliamentary committee will have on our negotations.""
+PERSON, the world's ORDINAL biggest gold producer, fell C$MONEY ($MONEY) to C$MONEY ($MONEY) on ORG on DATE and by CARDINAL to CARDINAL on ORG.
+A deal to control Busang would take PERSON a long way to achieving its goal of becoming the world's biggest gold producer.
+PERSON has a contract of work for the Busang I area of the property on the island of GPE. But Busang I contains only an estimated 2.6 million ounces of gold, with the bulk of the precious metal in CARDINAL adjoining lots, PERSON and Busang III, for which it needs contracts of work to explore and develop.
+The permits were held up this autumn because of an ownership dispute between ORG and one of its NORP partners over the Busang property.",1
+"Global media group ORG must report a sharply stronger DATE profit this DATE or it will fail to achieve its PERCENT growth target for DATE, analysts said.
+ORG is expected to report DATE net profit before abnormals of MONEY, taking ORDINAL half net profits to MONEY.  
+This compares with MONEY in DATE and would be up PERCENT from the MONEY posted in DATE of CARDINAL.
+Analysts said strong receipts from the box-office hit ""EVENT"" and firm GPE television revenue would be the driving factors in the stronger result.
+They said the market was demanding that News put out a strong second quarter figure after a series of below-expectation results.  
+News' first half must be around 15 to 20 percent better if PERSON group is to achieve its DATE forecast of a PERCENT improvement in profits in CARDINAL from the MONEY achieved in CARDINAL.
+""They are going to have to get a move on in DATE if they're going to achieve that PERCENT,"" said CARDINAL senior ORG analyst.
+""If they can't get a decent rise for DATE, people are going to panic,"" the analyst said.  
+Analysts said they expected revenues from NORP newspapers and magazines and the PERSON airline operation to remain weak in DATE.
+ORG analyst PERSON said he expected EVENT revenues to be the major factor in the stronger result.
+""Television is also CARDINAL area where there's room for some upside,"" ORG said. He is forecasting MONEY for DATE.  
+Analysts also said a good result was likely because News was due to give a big presentation to analysts and investors on DATE in GPE and would be reluctant to disappoint them immediately before that.
+""That's got everyone believing that they won't have a bad result,"" ORG said.
+The market would also watch the results commentary closely for a repeat of the PERCENT growth forecast.
+Executive chairman and founder PERSON repeated the forecast in DATE at the group's DATE meeting in Adelaide.  
+But analysts said company officials had been reluctant to repeat the forecast since then.
+-- ORG CARDINAL-2 373-1800","Media magnate PERSON said on DATE performance of his global media group, ORG, had been below expectations, but that he was still confident of a PERCENT profit rise in CARDINAL.
+""I am on record as saying that we expect a PERCENT increase in profit for DATE,"" PERSON told a packed ORG DATE meeting in Adelaide.  
+""We still expect that and are still aiming for that during DATE. However, I should say that DATE may not be quite up to those expectatations, but we will certainly be striving to make up any shortfall,"" he said.
+In DATE, ORG net profit slipped to MONEY from MONEY in DATE.
+He said revenues at the ORG GPE television business had begun CARDINAL slowly because of of EVENT, the rights to which were held by a rival network.
+NORP newspaper revenues would be flat in CARDINAL, he said.  
+However, ORG NORP newspapers were doing extremely well, with circulation at ORG climbing with little promotion while advertising in GPE was booming.
+PERSON, ORG chief executive and chairman, also announced the group now had MONEY in cash in the bank after recent GPE bond issues and would leave it there.
+He also said that News now planned to fund future expansion from cash flow where possible.
+""We know that we have to be not only viable and profitable, but also that we should stay strong and liquid,"" PERSON said.  
+""As far as possible, we will finance them (News' expansion plans) out of current cash flow to maintain liquidity so that we will be ready to take new opportunities as they arise,"" he said.
+News has often funded its aggressive growth in pay television and other media through either hefty debt or equity issues, which have sometimes met shareholder resistance.
+PERSON also announced that News planned to float its NORP based digital media technology company, ORG, within DATE and would sell PERCENT of the company.  
+ORG, a combination of ORG, would operate in GPE and GPE and produce technology for digital television.
+He also later said News' NORP satellite pay television operation, ORG, was performing well.
+-- Sydney newsroom CARDINAL-2 9373-1800",1
+"The collapse of a major real estate company which borrowed heavily from GPE's ""jusen"" mortgage firms would be unlikely to have any major negative impact on the financial industry, analysts said on DATE.
+Earlier on DATE, a semi-governmental body set up to collect problem loans run up by the ""jusen"" companies said it was seeking the involuntary bankruptcy of unlisted real estate firm PERSON.
+ORG (ORG) made the request to an GPE court.  
+""The action has been already factored in (to the financial markets),"" said PERSON, an official at credit research firm ORG.
+He said ORG appeared to have recognised the problem and given the go-ahead for the forced bankruptcy.
+PERSON, ORDINAL vice president at ORG, said the loan body was taking the right course of action, given the severity of the PERSON problem.  
+Banks which had loans to the failed jusen firms and related companies like PERSON have mostly made loan loss provisions, as well as forgiving loans under the government's scheme to wind up the firms, he said. Those creditors will not have any problem from the expected insolvency, he said.
+The ORG said in a statement that it had also asked the GPE ORG to start bankruptcy proceedings for CARDINAL of PERSON affiliates. The court has taken steps to seize their assets in response to the application, it also said.
+The application also sought bankruptcy proceedings against CARDINAL individuals associated with the firm, including president PERSON, the ORG said in its statement.  
+The ORG said it has claims totalling MONEY on PERSON and CARDINAL of its group firms. The claims were transferred from the failed jusen firms to the body, it said.
+In DATE, GPE adopted a framework that allowed for the use of MONEY of public money to help wind up the jusen.
+The ORG inherited assets totalling MONEY from the CARDINAL failed firms after MONEY worth of unrecoverable loans were written off with the help of financial institutions and public money.
+PERSON, a ORG analyst, said the action by the body was good news.  
+""The insolvency of GPE is not a matter of damage to the financial system... Rather, the market would probably appreciate the action as such legal procedures are transparent,"" ORG's ORG said.
+An ORG official quoted a senior official of ORG GPE (ORG) as telling reporters in GPE that the decision to seek the insolvency was taken after consultation with ORG and that the move would not greatly affect the financial system as a whole.  
+But although the overall damage to the financial system may be slight, analysts said individual non-bank financial institutions with outstanding loans to Sueno could suffer.
+""Should Sueno be forced into bankrutpcy and its assets distributed, many of the other lender non-banks will be forced to absorb huge losses relative to their size,"" ING Baring Securities (GPE) analyst PERSON said.
+If PERSON is declared bankrupt, it would be one of the biggest NORP insolvencies on record, analysts said.
+""This will probably force many of them (creditors) into distress or bankruptcy, so the outcome...should be closely watched,"" Fiorillo said. In total, the PERSON group has liabilities of MONEY, he added.
+Several analysts said that a non-bank institution, ORG, may be affected. An official at ORG said that the company has loans to PERSON and will try to figure out the impact of its collapse. He did not give further details. Non-bank financial institutions make loans but do not take deposits, borrowing money instead from banks.
+There was no immediate comment from PERSON itself about the move by the loan-collecting body.  
+A survey by ORG, a private sector research arm, said PERSON had MONEY in loans to Sueno as of DATE.
+Other major creditors to Sueno at DATE included ORG with claims of MONEY, All Corp with MONEY and ORG with MONEY, the research body said.
+Analysts said the non-bank financial institutions had undertaken restructuring programmes by asking creditors to do such things as cut interest payments on loans and delay principal payments.","NORP Telecom (BT) made corporate history on DATE by unveiling a MONEY merger with GPE's ORG in a coup that ensures it a leading position in the world's biggest telecoms market.
+The giant merger with ORG, in which ORG already has a PERCENT stake, is to be called ORG and marks a vital step in ORG's plans to expand overseas as world markets begin to liberalise, following in the steps of GPE and GPE.
+By joining forces with the ORDINAL-largest GPE long-distance carrier, ORG -- which already has CARDINAL joint ventures in the top CARDINAL NORP markets worth MONEY -- has placed itself well to tap into the corporate market for long-distance calls, data and mobile services.
+BT, which sweetened the alliance for its own CARDINAL shareholders with a QUANTITY (MONEY) special dividend, has been angling to get a foothold in the MONEY GPE telecoms market, where it sees tremedous growth prospects.
+Concert, a MONEY group with DATE revenues of over MONEY, will have a significant market share in the world's CARDINAL most competitive markets as well as being well-placed to gain access to leading-edge technology.
+ORG, which has the biggest Internet backbone in the GPE -- carrying PERCENT of worldwide traffic -- is estimated to have a PERCENT share of the GPE long-distance telephone market and has been dubbed by newspapers ""CARDINAL of the most admired technology and marketing companies in the GPE"".
+The ORG deal, which will challenge rival alliances led by GPE telecoms giant ORG and ORG, could trigger a fresh round of deal-making between local telecoms alliances ahead of the deregulation of NORP telecoms markets in DATE.
+But ORG also has its sights on LOC markets, the world's fastest growing market, which was worth MONEY in DATE. With the ORG deal in the bag, ORG said it hoped to be better able to address that market.
+Since its plans were foiled DATE to merge with NORP rival ORG and ORG and link up with its ""global digital highway"" and telecoms businesses in GPE, GPE and GPE, GPE has been struggling to find an alternative route into LOC.
+Chief executive Sir PERSON denied that the deal with ORG, which comes without any real presence in LOC, was the ORDINAL best. ""It's not the ORDINAL best -- it's the ORDINAL best choice,"" he insisted.
+Analysts now expect the enlarged ORGORG group to start making overtures to major NORP players such as GPE's giant ORG and ORG, the world's largest telecoms group.
+""(BT) have made no secret of their ambitions in LOC,"" said PERSON, telecoms analyst at ORG. ""The problem is...ORG is being courted by everybody in terms of international alliances. But as a consequence of this merger, PERSON has a stronger potential,"" he added.
+ORG said that although he would like to talk to ORG, the company would probably want to devote attention to deregulating its home market before seeking any deals.
+ORG's deal with ORG depends on both NORP and NORP regulatory approval. ORG and has to approve foreign ownership of every deal involving PERCENT of a company.
+However, it has allowed the NORP and NORP carriers -- ORG and Deutsche Telekom -- to take stakes in ORG ORDINAL-largest long-distance provider, and form PRODUCT.  ($MONEY Pound)  ORG",0
+"Shares in GPE's pharmaceutical industry were sharply higher across the board on DATE, bouyed by sterling's weakness, continued takeover speculation, positive broker comment and upbeat news from FAC.
+Shares in the ""big CARDINAL"" of ORG, ORG and ORG all rose.
+PERSON added PERCENT or MONEY to CARDINAL, ORG was up PERCENT or MONEY at CARDINAL and NORP rose PERCENT or MONEY to CARDINAL.
+Traders said sterling's sharp falls on the foreign exchanges TIME had been a major factor behind the gains, easing some of the anxiety over the effect of a strong pound on crucial overseas earnings.
+Shares in the major companies fell DATE after analysts at ORG cut DATE earnings estimates because of the currency impact.
+""Currency is very important,"" said Panmure PERSON analyst PERSON. ""There is a general view that the sector has lagged a bit because of currency, and we had something of a rebound.""
+Speculation that ORG is preparing to announce a merger or takeover may also be buoying NORP and ORG, analysts said, although scepticism about such a move is widespread.
+The CARDINAL were further helped by ORG decision to place a buy stance on their stocks, with a hold on ORG.
+Shares in GPE, which has long traded at a discount to other large drug stocks, rose MONEY to MONEY on the back of ""positive"" trial data from its hepatitis B vaccine ORG, which the company hopes will act both to stop people getting the disease and to help those already infected.
+News that GPE had formed a collaboration with ORG, CARDINAL of the smallest stocks in the sector, made it the biggest gainer, jumping PERCENT or MONEY to CARDINAL.
+The CARDINAL companies hope to develop a range of non-injectable vaccines, and GPE cemented the link by taking a PERCENT stake in GPE for MONEY.
+Other strong biotech performers included the flagship NORP PERSON, which was squeezed up PERCENT or MONEY to CARDINAL as several sell positions finally unwound.
+ORG also continued to benefit from optimism about its CARDINAL lead drugs, for septic shock and leukaemia, rising MONEY to CARDINAL.","Shares in NORP media and leisure firm PRODUCT recovered on DATE following a trading statement which calmed market jitters about the outlook for the company.
+PRODUCT had dipped to a DATE low on DATE but bounced back after the company said trading in DATE of DATE was in line with DATE. The shares were CARDINAL firmer at 710p by CARDINAL ORG.
+Analysts said there was relief that PRODUCT, which passes into the hands of new chief executive PERSON in DATE, had not produced any really nasty surprises.
+""All in all, it's in line with expectations but that in itself is good as the last few trading updates from the company have been disappointing,"" said PERSON of brokers Panmure PERSON.
+ORG said that total video retuning costs associated with the launch of the Channel CARDINAL terrestrial television channel DATE would rise to MONEY (MONEY).
+This is almost treble the sum initially earmarked for dealing with video recorders affected by interference from the new channel's signal. But it is below the figure quoted in some recent media reports.
+Channel 5 has recently been awarded an extra frequency to boost its coverage to PERCENT of the country and ORG said its business plan showed significantly higher rates of return than in the original bid.
+ORG said the retuning costs and a major film deal with ORG would come out of the QUANTITY (MONEY) original funding agreed by the Channel 5 shareholders. The other shareholders are GPE's ORGamp; GPE, GPE investment firm ORG and GPE broadcast group ORG.
+This DATE's losses from Mindscape, ORG's ailing GPE consumer software unit, should be in line with earlier forecasts of MONEY. PRODUCT also saw no real impact on its DATE profits from the current strength of sterling.
+ORG's interests range from the ORG newspaper, through to theme parks and television production.
+The company's critics have long said it lacks focus and much attention is centred on the likely impact of LOC, the first woman to head CARDINAL of GPE's leading companies.
+""The key issue remains what the structure of PRODUCT will be. Which are the core areas and do all parts of the business fit?"" said PERSON. ($MONEY Pound)",0
+"ORG may not be GPE's biggest supermarket chain but new chief executive PERSON is determined to make it the best.
+ORG is currently one of GPE's top CARDINAL supermarkets with PERCENT of the market, behind ORG's leading PERCENT and its arch-rival ORG PERCENT, according to industry figures for DATE.
+""I don't want particularly to be the biggest but what I want to be is the best,"" PERSON told ORG in an interview.
+Leighton took over on DATE from his close colleague PERSON, the dynamic former chief executive who stepped up to chairman and who has just embarked on a political career as a prospective parliamentary candidate for ORG.
+PERSON is credited with turning ORG around from a debt-laden, downbeat chain when he took over DATE to its current position as value-for-money with cheeky, high-profile marketing campaigns and a lively image.
+But ORG feels there is still more to do.
+""We've still got CARDINAL the store base that we're really satisfied with...a lot of the gain in terms of productivity...and supply chain that our competitors have, we have not yet got and have been slow in getting,"" he said.
+CLOTHING MARGINS HIGHER THAN FOOD
+Leighton wants to boost the chain's PERSON clothing range to ORDINAL place in the market behind own-brand high street name ORGamp; PERSON. ""I'd like it to be...close towards PERCENT (of total sales) in the chain...about a QUANTITY (a year) business,"" he said, adding that he thought that could be done in ""DATE"".
+Clothing margins are around twice those of groceries for ORG, ORG said.
+The PERSON clothing brand, exclusive to ORG, is headed by PERSON who founded the ORG chain of fashion stores.
+Leighton sees the handover from PERSON as an ""evolution"", valuing continuity but seeing clear areas for change.
+""I think continuity in management succession is very important,"" he said. He added: ""There will be some changes, that goes with the territory.""
+He said the pace of innovation could be speeded up. ""We've got a bit more comfortable and I don't like that and so we're just going to hot (innovation) up a bit,"" he said.
+Leighton, a graduate of ORG business school, sees improvements in technology as a way of achieving greater profitability for the stores.
+ORG needs to make ""another quantum (leap)"" in using technology, ORG said, primarily to speed up distribution and product roll-out.
+He admitted that in technology ""I'm not satisfied with what we are doing...PERSON not leaping, we're catching up.""
+Leighton also wants to see a quarter of ORG's business unique to its outlets, mostly QUANTITY, in DATE time.
+""CARDINAL of our objectives (is that) in DATE, PERCENT of what we do in our stores you would not be able to do in a competitor superstore of QUANTITY,"" he said.
+DRIVE A JAGUAR FOR ONE MONTH
+ORG's renowned innovative management style, where everyone from checkout staff to chairman is a colleague and employees are encouraged to ""Tell Archie"" of ideas, has looked largely to PERSON and PERSON to carry the company image.
+Now, PERSON feels it needs to become ""less dependent on CARDINAL individuals. Now it's time for the team to deliver"".
+Employees work in an atmosphere where DATE and DATE sector targets are posted in staff areas while A,B,C,D awards are made for action ""WORK_OF_ART.""
+Sales competitions reward the winner with use of the company's red ORG for a month and there is strong participation in the employee share scheme.
+""People want to work in successful businesses and the measure of our success will be in our profitability, earnings per share, and our sales performance and market share,"" he said.
+Leighton feels the confidence in employees engendered by the management style accounts for ""a ORDINAL of our success"".
+And he sees it in tune with opposition ORG leader PERSON's concept of a ""stakeholder society"".
+""That's exactly what it is. People should be involved in what they do and there's no reason why they shouldn't be,"" he said.
+Leighton remains committed to ORG's aim to be the cheapest across a basket of goods and vowed to respond to market leader ORG's latest challenge of ""WORK_OF_ART"" price offers.
+ASDA VOWS TO KEEP MARKET SHARE
+""ORG is very determined we will hold our position. It is very important for us to do that and we will hold it,"" he said.
+""If we are under pressure in some areas, we will and have and are responding,"" he added.
+He said food retailing was currently very competitive and likely to stay that way for ""DATE"".
+Own brand goods, which generally give higher margins to retailers, currently account for PERCENT or so of ORG's sales and PERSON would like to push that up to PERCENT, but cautioned that ""PERCENT is a lot"".
+ORG, where ORG has battled against Retail Price Maintenance (RPM), could be an area of opportunity for own brand, he suggested.
+But CARDINAL area where ORG seems in no hurry is in launching loyalty cards in its stores nationwide, to match moves from ORG and the other big supermarkets, ORG and ORG.
+ORG is trying out a loyalty card -- which rewards customers and also provides information about what they buy -- in selected stores but PERSON is unwilling to roll it out until he can see real value for the company in such a move.
+""I only feel the need for the database (but) people have still not really worked out how to mine the database,"" he said.
+Leighton suggested that if ORG had to chose between investing in a decrease in margins through lower prices or loyalty, price would still win out.
+""If CARDINAL percentage point were the cost, well I could do quite a lot with PERCENT in terms of pricing,"" he said.","GPE is awash with steel and suppliers scrambling for a piece of CARDINAL of the world's few active markets and keeping prices down while they go about it, traders and industry executives in LOC said on DATE. ""The competition is forcing prices down,"" a senior executive with a Western firm said.
+Prices had fallen PERCENT and more over DATE, an executive with a NORP steelmaker said.
+Cold-rolled steel was fetching MONEY a tonne, he said, galvanized steel MONEY less than that.  
+He and other sources repeated reports of CARDINAL of tonnes of galvanized steel stacked up at NORP ports, but these could not be confirmed.
+Steel industry figures said GPE was flooded with cheap steel, much of it from the former GPE, and most gave a pessimistic outlook for the recovery of the NORP market.
+""I can't see the bottom yet,"" the NORP executive said. ""People have been hoping for a recovery, but I think there is no hope for improvement within DATE.""  
+Figures published in the official NORP press in DATE showed imports of steel billet and rolled steel in DATE at QUANTITY, up PERCENT on DATE period.
+Exports of these products were down PERCENT, to QUANTITY, in the DATE period, press reports said.
+A flood into LOC of NORP steel makers fleeing soft markets at home has increased the choice of quality products in GPE QUANTITY, the NORP source said.  
+Steel stockpiles that had been mounting since the phenomenal buying of DATE -- when QUANTITY of steel entered the country -- were slowly being whittled away, traders said.
+Total DATE imports were QUANTITY. In DATE, they were CARDINAL.
+PERSON, senior GPE and regional steel analyst at ORG in GPE, said he estimated GPE's steel stockpile at QUANTITY.
+The quality was unknown but doubtful, he said, and so should not dent GPE's need for high quality product.  
+GPE would probably import CARDINAL of steel in DATE, trade and industry sources said.
+""What they need is a quality they can't get at home,"" the NORP executive said.
+Imports from ORG were falling, PERSON said, ""because it is low quality stuff and if you only have QUANTITY of imports, you must have a higher quality product coming in"".
+However, industry sources said GPE's steel market was weak and beset by a lack of cash for buyers -- and a rising incidence of contract washouts.  
+""Buyers are not willing to pay for their orders, not just because they don't have the cash, but because the price drops between order and delivery time and they are rejecting the cargoes or asking us to reduce the price,"" the NORP executive said
+A source with another NORP steelmaker said major NORP mills had cut their prices by PERCENT to hold on to their NORP customers.
+""So the obvious trend is that demand is not growing as the NORP mills had expected and as a result they have a lot of surplus to push onto the market,"" he said.  
+""The problem is that even though GPE's state-owned manufacturers are trying to produce more, they are having problems getting hard currency to buy the raw materials.""
+GPE's DATE steel demand was QUANTITY, trading sources said.
+GPE's ORG said in DATE that steel demand would reach an annual QUANTITY by DATE.
+The Ministry set an annual output target of QUANTITY by DATE, and said production would increase by QUANTITY DATE DATE.
+-- GPE newsroom (CARDINAL) 2843-6470",0
+"The DATE partnership between ORG and ORG, already severely damaged by a potential competing alliance, moved closer toward collapse on DATE when ORG said it was cancelling a key marketing agreement between the CARDINAL carriers.
+Although surprised by the move, industry analysts said it will have little impact on ORG, which received far less revenue from the alliance than did ORG.
+ORG still retains a PERCENT stake in GPE, GPE-based ORG.  
+ORG said it would end its code-sharing pact and frequent flier programs with ORG on DATE.
+Code-sharing is a marketing agreement in which airlines share passengers and extend their reach to destinations they do not typically serve. Over DATE, CARDINAL of world airlines have entered into such pacts.
+The ORG move cames amid increasing hostility between it and its NORP partner. ORG DATE announced plans to form a massive alliance with powerhouse ORG, parent of ORG  
+The move infuriated ORG, which promptly sued the CARDINAL carriers and contended that their planned pact would undermine the ORG-ORG partnership.
+Although the relationship had certainly turned rocky, most analysts had not expected ORG to sever the tie until the proposed ORG pact was finalized. That proposed alliance has raised antitrust concerns, awaits regulatory approvals and is linked to other aviation issues.
+""Clearly, it's difficult to simultaneously sue a partner and cooperate with a partner,"" said PERSON of ORG.  
+ORG said in GPE that it would continue to work with ORG until the pact is terminated.
+At the time the partnership began in DATE, ORG was a money-losing airline that desperately needed to reduce costs and expand its global presence. ORG invested MONEY under the partnership, but refused to pump any more money in the carrier because of its poor financial performance.
+Since then, ORG's financial position has improved amid healthier times for the airline industry, but its costs are still higher than other major GPE carriers.
+""At the time the alliance was made, ORG received the cash which it needed, but DATE, it doesn't need it,"" said PERSON of ORG.
+ORG's future plans are now more uncertain with the decision to sever ties with ORG, especially because chief executive officer PERSON has stressed that he wants to expand ORG's transatlantic presence.
+""I'm a little mystified. They don't have anything to replace it with yet,"" said ORGamp; NORP analyst PERSON.","ORG and ORG so far have convinced the courts that their MONEY merger plan should proceed, but they still need to win over unhappy shareholders who favour ORG higher rival bid.
+Lawyers and financial advisers were expected in DATE to consider several plans aimed at persuading investors to approve a crucial measure needed for the deal.
+Meanwhile, ORG said DATE that its $MONEY cash tender offer for PERCENT of ORG shares, which represents the ORDINAL part of its plan to buy ORG, was oversubscribed.
+The proposed stock and cash transaction has angered many investors, who prefer an all-cash MONEY offer by ORG, based in GPE, GPE
+GPE-based ORG has rejected the ORG offer of $MONEY a share, saying the union with ORG provides more strategic benefits.
+But ORG refused to give up, on DATE extending its tender offer through TIME on DATE. The offer had been set to expire DATE.
+ORG said earlier it would also continue to pursue its legal case seeking to block the planned merger.
+ORG said that as of DATE TIME CARDINAL ORG shares had been tendered and not withdrawn pursuant to ORG offer.
+Sources close to the companies said no final decision has been made about how to woo ORG shareholders, but options include sweetening the stock portion of the deal or setting a ""collar"" to guard against price volatility.
+They will also consider revising the deal's terms to accelerate payment to investors, according to the sources, who did not want to be identified.
+The CARDINAL companies could also decide to keep the terms unchanged, betting that shareholders will ultimately choose the ORG offer over ORG bid, which cannot be formally considered by ORG until DATE.
+""There's only one thing they can do and that's to sweeten the offer. I don't know how they're going to get enough votes if they don't,"" said PERSON, managing director at investment firm ORGamp; ORG, which holds CARDINAL shares of ORG.
+GPE, Va.-based ORG and ORG declined to comment on their plans but acknowledged DATE they were discussing increasing the value of the pact upon its consummation.
+Sources close to the companies said there is no rush to make a decision, noting that ORG can easily postpone the shareholder vote that is now slated for DATE.
+ORG and ORG won a significant victory DATE when a GPE ORG judge denied a request by ORG to block the ORG-Conrail deal. An appeals panel also declined to block the ORDINAL step of the deal.
+PERSON, meanwhile, withdrew its motion for an expedited appeal of the federal court ruling that allowed ORG to buy the PERCENT stake in ORG since the tender offer expired at TIME.
+But a ORG attorney said the company will continue to pursue its legal case seeking to block the ORG merger.
+""We will continue with the litigation,"" attorney PERSON said.
+A group of ORG shareholders pursuing a lawsuit and appeal similar to ORG did not withdraw their motion for expedited appeal. The group urged the court DATE to hear an expedited appeal and ""sterilize"" the PERCENT ORG stake by preventing ORG from voting it at a shareholders meeting needed for the merger to occur.
+Because GPE corporate law prohibits a company from buying PERCENT of another company in a cash tender offer, shareholders will be asked in DATE to approve a measure that would permit ORG to buy PERCENT.
+The ORG-Conrail transaction calls for ORG to buy PERCENT of ORG shares for $MONEY per share in cash and exchange PERCENT for ORG stock.
+Sources close to the company said ORG and ORG were well aware of the potential difficulties in winning the necessary votes.
+Industry experts believe shareholders may be more willing to approve PERCENT measure if they were guaranteed more favourable terms for the stock portion of the deal.
+""They can't get the vote until they improve the back end of the deal and they know that,"" CARDINAL takeover specialist said.
+Meanwhile, ORG stock tumbled, reflecting the expiration of ORG's tender offer. The stock fell MONEY on ORG.
+Based on DATE's stock price, the ORG transaction values shares of ORG at MONEY each. The stock portion of the deal would be exchanged at a value of MONEY for each ORG share.",1
+"ORG is expected to report modest earnings growth for DATE on DATE despite tough comparisons with the DATE period and a sales slowdown ahead of an upgrade of a popular software package.
+Industry analysts surveyed by ORG on average expect ORG to report earnings of MONEY a share for DATE, up PERCENT from MONEY a share reported DATE. Sales are expected to rise PERCENT to MONEY.
+Analysts consider that a strong performance against tough comparisons with the DATE period, DATE of availability for the Windows CARDINAL operating system.
+In DATE sales soared PERCENT and net income jumped PERCENT.
+""These guys are just incredibly strong now,"" said PERSON of ORG in GPE, GPE ""They'll probably meet or beat (Wall) Street's estimate again.""
+Investors will have DATE to analyse the results, which are due to be released after the close of trading on DATE.
+ORG executives originally had scheduled the release for DATE but decided to delay the report until DATE after an event publicising the launch of Office CARDINAL, its best-selling package of business software.
+Analysts estimated that revenues of ORG and its component applications account for PERCENT of ORG's total, but the figure will be lower for DATE just ended because of the impending upgrade.
+For much of the DATE ORG offered Office CARDINAL buyers coupons good for a free upgrade, which will result in some revenues being deferred into future reporting periods.
+But strong growth in personal computer sales and in acceptance of ORG's high-end Windows NT operating system continue to buoy the company's profits.
+""The ongoing strength of the NT cycle is what's carrying DATE,"" said PERSON of ORGamp; ORG. ""Countervailing that is the tough comparison DATE with the Windows 95 release, so it's a mixed scenario.""
+Owen said that while sales of PCs to consumers were sluggish in DATE, declining prices and increased processing power had sparked a new wave of corporate buying.
+He said PERCENT or fewer of corporate desktops have made the transition to the Windows 95 or Windows NT systems.
+""That's a tremendous opportunity for ORG,"" he said.  
+The NORP Prime Minister said participants had raised concerns about shortages of skilled knowledge workers, and about how to market products in neighbouring countries.
+GPE's newly formed ORG is preparing to take formal applications beginning in DATE from ""world-class companies"" wanting to set up operations in the ORG.
+GPE said ORG was already planning to put a Java Software Development Competency Center in the new high tech zone, and a senior executive of ORG said the NORP telecommunications giant was also planning to locate a research and development centre in the multimedia corridor.
+ORG also wants to join other participants in forming a ORG which GPE envisions for the area.
+Some of the executives said the project was ambitious, and would likely face many pressures for the plan to change as it progressed, despite its success in attracting initial support.
+""You cannot command creation,"" said ORG. ""We have an impeccable plan, but execution still has to happen. We know enough in this new digital world that there are a lot of unpredictable discontinuities that occur. No country has a monopoly on these things.""  
+PERSON said individual panel members would continue to meet over DATE, and that a further full meeting would be called in GPE a year from now to review progress.","ORG faces increasingly stiff competition and some skeptical corporate customers as it launches the latest version of its hugely profitable ORG suite of applications.
+Company Chairman PERSON has predicted Office 97 will be the biggest upgrade ever in percentage terms for the market-dominating product, which has an installed base approaching CARDINAL users including component applications such as ORG.
+While early reviews of Office CARDINAL have been positive, industry analysts said corporate users in particular will take a hard look before deciding whether the CARDINAL of new features are worth an upgrade investment of $MONEY per seat or more.
+""Corporations are realizing they don't need to upgrade their office suite environment nearly as often as ORG would like them to,"" said PERSON, research director for ORG.
+By most estimates ORG dominates the market for desktop productivity suites, capturing PERCENT of revenues.
+Office and its component applications have been a key driver for the company's earnings, contributing MONEY of ORG's MONEY in sales for DATE, estimated analyst PERSON of PERSON.
+He projected ORG would account for MONEY of a total MONEY in revenues DATE.
+""There's no question, it's enormous,"" he said.
+In addition to its financial importance the new ORG is filled with Internet hooks designed to drive broader acceptance of ORG's Internet Explorer browser, ""so it's an important product strategically,"" PERSON said.
+But ORG, which will launch the product DATE at a glitzy media event featuring Gates on the stage of GPE PERSON, faces increasingly aggressive competition from GPE's ORG and ORG ORG unit.
+Corel, which uses WordPerfect word-processing software as the core of its suite, made a significant dent in ORG's retail market share in DATE, according to PC Data.
+""Corel has proven that if a competitor has the right offering at the right price point, even ORG is vulnerable -- at least temporarily,"" said PERSON of T.Rowe Price in a newsletter.
+And PERSON has gotten a jump on the market by announcing a new version of its suite based on PERSON, the Internet-friendly programming language.
+Analysts say the emergence of network computers and their ""thin client"" applications pose no immediate threat to ORG, which demands QUANTITY of hard disk space for a standard installation.
+""Over time you will move toward a more Internet-intranet driven model, where the basic applications reside inside your Internet structure and you download it as you need it, but that's going to take DATE,"" said PERSON, president of ORG consulting.
+In the near term, the biggest threat to Office 97 is intertia, analysts said.
+Most Office users take advantage of only a small percentage of features as it is.
+Analysts are divided on whether significant demand will be driven by Office 97 features including a built-in system to track appointments and phone numbers and animated assistants to guide users through tasks.
+More importantly, many large enterprise users have not upgraded to the Windows 95 or Windows NT operating systems, which are required to use Office 97.",1
+"Shedding its chemical businesses would leave ORG as a pure play in the high-growth life sciences area with attractive agricultural biotechnology and pharmaceutical holdings.
+""This entity is likely to (have) a higher valuation by itself than with the chemical businesses intact,"" ORG analyst PERSON said DATE.
+""The key here is that the chemical business does not have the growth potential as the ag biotech and the ag chemical and the drug component could,"" he added.  
+Earlier, ORG said it might spin off its chemical businesses, sell or merge them with other companies, or keep and restructure the operations.
+The news sent the stock up CARDINAL at DATE at DATE, after setting a new DATE high of CARDINAL.
+""It has become increasingly clear, especially over DATE, that the directions and the needs of the life sciences businesses and the chemical businesses were quite different,"" PERSON, ORG chief economist, said in a telephone interview. ""We feel that we are doing this from a position of strength.""  
+Analysts said the GPE-based company had been expected to shed its chemical businesses since the sale DATE of its worldwide stryrenics plastics business.
+""I would say the chances of keeping it (chemicals) and restructuring it are pretty slim,"" said PERSON analyst PERSON.
+The chemical businesses that may be sold or spun off include nylon and acrylic fibers, PERSON plastic interlayer that is sold to glass manufacturers, and specialty chemicals.
+""The chemical operations...would be very viable as a stand alone company,"" ORG analyst PERSON said.  
+Cash said ORG's acrylic fiber, nylon and PERSON businesses have limited competition in GPE and very favorable cost structures.
+""It would be a focused (chemical) company with good technology...and a lot of interest in the assets from a stock market perspective if they choose to spin it off,"" Cash added.
+Agricultural chemicals would remain as CARDINAL of the crown jewels of the life sciences division, analysts said.
+Agricultural chemicals, including ORG herbicide, is key to ORG's agricultural biotechnology. The company has developed crops that are genetically altered to resist the use of ORG in the fields to kill weeds.
+The life science operations also would include food additives and the ORG pharmaceutical division. In a recent report, ORG said it expected ORG to keep ORG, which some analysts previously thought would be sold.
+While ORG is expected to spin off or sell its chemical operations, rather than keep and restructure them, ORG said all options are being studied. He added that a decision is expected soon, but did not give a timeframe.
+""As soon as is practical,"" he added.
+ORG Chicago PERSON","GPE beat GPE 3-0 in a EVENT ice hockey game on DATE, setting up a showdown for NORP group supremacy against GPE and leaving the reigning world champions searching for answers.
+The fast-skating NORP seized control of the game from the opening faceoff, forcing the NORP to take several early penalties and keeping its vaunted offense in check.
+Toronto Maple Leaf winger PERSON opened the scoring midway through the ORDINAL period when he sped around the NORP defense and pulled Dallas Stars' goalie PERSON across the crease before sliding the puck between the netminder's legs.
+ORG (ORG) connection struck again early in the ORDINAL frame when ORG defenseman PERSON blasted a slapshot from the blue line past a screened ORG with TIME gone.
+PERSON, voted best goalie at the world championships for DATE, was once again screened when a weak shot from PERSON found the bottom corner of the net to close out the scoring for the undefeated NORP.
+The Czechs came into the tournament riding high after capturing the world title in GPE in DATE, but have lost the ORDINAL CARDINAL games of the tournament and are in danger of crashing out despite having their version of ORG"".
+With the addition of ORG duo PERSON and Petr Nedved, GPE PERSON sharpshooter PERSON and the core of the world championship team in tact, the NORP were looking to prove they belonged at the pinnacle of the hockey world.
+The match at GPE's FAC was to be a homecoming of sorts for the PRODUCT, their ORDINAL home game since beating GPE CARDINAL-2 in a thrilling world championship final on a last minute goal.
+But after a demoralising loss to GPE in its tournament opener on DATE, and another listless effort on DATE, NORP fans had had enough, pelting the NORP bench with beer cans near the end of the game.
+Even NORP coach PERSON, a veteran coach with DATE behind the bench, was left searching for an answer to his sputtering offense and the team's lack of dynamism.
+""The NORP played well, you've got to hand it to them. But the fact that we didn't score at home is not a very good showing,"" he said.
+Added Jagr: ""We aren't that bad, but our performance is not showing it.""
+PERSON, who has often expressed his disdain for bringing in players who have talent but not team spirit refused to comment on whether he would invite the same team back if he could do it all again.
+But with CARDINAL players on the roster with CARDINAL or less of national team games under their belts, the NORP players know they must come together quickly, or face the embarassment of failing to win in what is touted as the true battle for hockey supremacy.
+""We've got to concentrate on winning against GPE and moving on to the next round, nothing else,"" added PERSON, who recently re-signed with ORG after playing DATE in GPE.
+The win allows GPE to keep pace with group leaders GPE, who have also won both their games so far but have a better goal difference.
+The CARDINAL teams meet on DATE in GPE while the NORP must regroup and beat winless GPE in GPE on DATE to move into the quarterfinals DATE in LOC.",0
+"NORP gold giant ORG takeover bids for its NORP offshoot ORG and GPE gold miner ORG are likely to be successful, analysts said on DATE. A takeover of the CARDINAL miners would give GPE control of the big ORG gold mine in GPE (ORG).
+""I think they will walk it in,"" said PERSON, gold mining analyst at ORG.
+Placer Dome had amassed a PERCENT stake in GPE in TIME before launching a MONEY a share bid.  
+The GPE-based miner is offering one of its shares for every CARDINAL ORG shares. ORG said its offer for Highlands represented a PERCENT premium to the price of the the shares on DATE. The offer for ORG Placer Dome does not own in ORG represents aa PERCENT premium on the DATE price, the NORP miner said.
+The shares of both ORG and Highlands soared after ORG unveiled its offers before the market opening.
+At TIME (CARDINAL ORG) ORG shares were MONEY or PERCENT higher at A$MONEY while Highlands shares were MONEY or PERCENT higher at MONEY.  
+NORP gold analysts said they did not expect FAC to raise its bid prices, with both ORG and Highlands directors likely to recommend shareholders to accept the offers in the absence of any higher bids.
+""At the moment, the advice would be not to sell,"" Highlands company secretary PERSON told ORG. ""But the directors are considering the offer and are expected to make a statement later today,"" West said.
+Analysts said the speed at which GPE picked up a ORDINAL of Highlands indicated there were plenty of sellers of the stock at these levels.  
+Highlands has been in play since ORG put its PERCENT stake up for sale at MONEY a share in DATE, but underwriter to the offer ORG, was left with PERCENT of Highlands, as investors neglected the offer.
+""When you have someone offering MONEY and not too long ago nobody was buying at MONEY) then its no wonder they are queuing up to sell,"" said PERSON at ORG.
+Analysts said Highlands needed a partner to help develop the Nena/Frieda River copper/gold project and the PERSON nickel-cobalt deposit, both in ORG. The CARDINAL projects are estimated to cost MONEY to develop.  
+""Highlands was really under pressure as its needed around A$500-A$600 million to finance its share of the ORG and PERSON projects and that is pretty difficult for a company that is capitalised at MONEY,"" ORG's PERSON said.
+Analysts said the offers are probably opportunistic, given that ORG and Highlands share prices were both DATE above ORG offer prices. But both have fallen with the gold price, which is currently around DATE lows.
+""It is opportune, with the gold price falling, but neither ORG) or Highlands share prices have been going anywhere for most of DATE,"" PERSON said.  
+Gold analysts said PERSON was unlikely to mop up the remaining stake in ORG, which is currently PERCENT owned by ORG.
+""I don't expect there to be bid for PERSON, I think they will let that run its course,"" said CARDINAL GPE gold analyst.
+The takeover bids for the PERSON partners, also boosted ORG share price, which owns PERCENT of the ORG mine and most of the gold sector despite a weaker gold price, which is currently trading at US$MONEY an ounce.
+At TIME (CARDINAL ORG), ORG shares were MONEY or PERCENT higher at A$MONEY. --Sydney newsroom CARDINAL-2 9373-1800","ORG (BA) said on DATE that it had no plans for new alliances over DATE, but would extend its global reach by franchising its popular brand name to smaller airlines.
+ORG has an alliance with NORP carrier ORG and formed an alliance with ORG in DATE, although this is subject to regulatory approvals and a legal suit by ORG, in which ORG holds PERCENT.
+""One of the great challenges of alliance development is the management challenge and I think it would be unwise to take on any more than we can absorb at any one time,"" ORG chief executive PERSON said at an industry luncheon in GPE.
+Reports that ORG would look to an alliance with a NORP airline, notably ORG, were quashed by Ayling in a speech to ORG in GPE.
+""I think the NORP airline industry is an independent industry and I think it will remain a strongly independent industry. If there are opportunities in the future for developing relationships there with other carriers then obviously we will do that,"" Ayling said.  
+However, Ayling said the airline's DATE experiment with franchising its brand name to smaller airlines was successful and would be an area of future growth, providing safety and customer service standards were met.
+""It is a way of bringing extended services to customers and of allowing operators of smaller airlines, who would have found it very difficult to survive in this world of global networks, to be more successful,"" Ayling said.
+In DATE, ORG signed its ORDINAL franchise agreement outside of ORG largest independent carrier, ORG. Under the deal ORG's CARDINAL-jet fleet will use the ORG name and livery.
+Under the existing rules it would have been impossible to acquire or invest PERCENT in an airline in GPE, said Ayling. ""GPE is a part of the world which would not be open to us if we didn't have this deal,"" he said.
+Ayling is visiting GPE to look at the operations of ORG's PERCENT stake in ORG, the national carrier.
+Under the alliances with ORG and ORG, ORG and its partners fly to over 500 destinations in CARDINAL countries. Ayling said ORG's global alliance could lead to opportunities in other parts of the world.  
+""We may see, although this may be some way off, fleet acquisition opportunities, which would make a significant impact on procurement of aircraft,"" said Ayling.
+""Once these agreements are put in place and they are being effectively managed, we will be able to see some things we are not able to see at the moment,"" he said.
+DATE, ORG reported an PERCENT rise in DATE profits to CARDINAL sterling (MONEY) on sales of CARDINAL sterling. It forecast another record year in DATE.",1
+"GPE announced plans to create a major new force in the world defence industry on DATE, by selling state-owned defence and consumer electronics group ORG to ORG, which owns missile maker ORG.
+The government said in a statement it preferred ORG's bid to the rival offer of largely civilian industrial group ORG.
+Prime Minister PERSON office said the ORG giant thus created would be a leading force in the world military industry.
+""The merger is an important stage in the reinforcement of the NORP professional electronics and defense industry,"" it said in a statement.
+The government said it would pump MONEY into loss-making PERSON, which is a leading maker of televisions under brand suchs as ORG and ORG, as well as a specialist in defence electronics such as missile guidance sustems.
+The decision was a surprise as the stock market and the media had gambled ORG's no-nonsense chairman PERSON would take the prize over self-made entrepreneur PERSON, DATE, who is approaching retirement and soon to hand over power to his son, LOC.
+Lagardere's conglomerate also owns publisher ORG.
+The government did not spell out exactly how it had reached the choice, but its statement stressed the importance of a merger between ORG's ORG and ORG's majority-owned defence unit ORG.
+It said it was sending both offers for ORG to the independent ORG, which has an important say in the sale of state assets, while recommending ORG's bid.
+After advice from this consultative body, which reviews the terms of bids, and clearance from ORG, the sale is expected to be concluded before DATE.
+The government said it would raise ORG's capital by MONEY, blaming past NORP administrations for leaving the group undercapitalised after nationalisation in DATE and for the excessive debts of DATE.
+GPE will keep a golden share to safeguard defence interests, it said.
+ORG lost MONEY in DATE and has MONEY of debt. Fully-owned ORG lost CARDINAL in DATE, but ORG is profitable and had DATE earnings of MONEY.
+Political sources had said President PERSON was determined to pick a bidder who kept ORG key defence technologies firmly in NORP hands.
+Lagardere has in the past said that ORG, with which is has a missiles joint-venture, and GPE's ORG could also be involved.
+The government said Lagardere wanted to leave the share capital of microelectronics maker ORG by selling to the other main shareholders.
+ORG has a PERCENT stake in ORG which is controlled by an NORP-Italian shareholder group including state entities such as ORG and ORG.
+PERSON, CARDINAL of the world's leading television set and decoders makers with brands suchs as ORG, ORG, ORG, will be sold to ORG.
+The government said ORG was a well known investor in GPE and had knowledge of mass production techniques. It said ORG has promised to maintain ORG jobs in GPE and even create new jobs.
+ORG's shares rose sharply on DATE TIME on market relief. Analysts doubted its capacity to finance the ORG deal. Lagardere shares were suspended for DATE.
+On DATE, ORG closed down PERCENT at MONEY on rumours its bid would prevail while Lagardere closed up PERCENT at MONEY.","NORP state-owned ORG said on DATE it was ready to take on the tougher competition posed by the planned foray into the NORP domestic market of NORP flag-carrier ORG (BA).
+ORG's ORG NORP unit on DATE announced a joint MONEY bid (MONEY) with NORP private bank PERSON for domestic carrier ORG that will double its share of takeoff and landing slots at GPE' busy ORDINAL airport PERCENT.
+An ORG spokeswoman acknowledged ORG's increased presence in GPE aviation would have an impact.
+""It certainly has consequences for us. But we will continue with improving our product and service while cutting our costs and prices,"" she said.
+BA, CARDINAL of the world's most profitable airlines, will in ORDINAL instance manage its NORP assets from a distance. ORG and ORG will operate separately at least until DATE when the latter should have returned to profit.
+The Creteil commercial court will meet on DATE to study the BA/Rivaud offer while an ORG creditors meeting has the final say. Such a meeting is due within DATE.
+But the way to the finishing line is not without obstacles.
+In GPE, PERSON ORG said it planned to raise its bid for ORG, in administration since DATE. The court-appointed administrator, PERSON, reacted sceptically.
+""I have never seen any bid by Virgin so I do not see how they can increase a bid,"" he told ORG by telephone.
+""Strictly theoretically, a new bid could be made just up to the moment that the creditors meet and accept the offer on the table. In the end the creditors decide,"" he added.
+The pilot's union of ORG domestic unit ORG urged the government and chairman PERSON to join the bidding battle for ORG.
+""It will allow our country to remain master of its skies. Otherwise, there will not be any NORP competition because there will be no NORP air transport industry left,"" the ORG pilots union said in a statement.
+ORG is constrained from expanding in GPE until DATE, under conditions imposed by ORG for state rescue capital injections.
+ORG dominated NORP domestic routes and Orly airport until as recently DATE when the NORP government decided to open some major domestic routes to competition ahead of full liberalisation from DATE.
+A spokesman for ORG, now renamed ORG, said the company had at the moment a PERCENT share on the total NORP market.
+Domestic airlines ORG, ORG and ORG have all tried to carve out market share ahead of liberalisation with a price war. As a result they have suffered financially.
+Industry sources said ORG could strike back in DATE and make a bid for ORG to prevent another foreign airline from setting foot in GPE alongside ORG.",1
+"GPE is proving more successful in attracting foreign oil investment dollars than big brother GPE, but the NORP state must still deal with GPE if it wants to become a major world energy player.
+In the latest deal underscoring the shift, NORP oil officials said ORG, ORG, GPE's ORG and GPE LOC would initial a MONEY agreement with NORP officials on DATE to tap unexplored reserves in the NORP sector of the NORP.
+The deal is the ORDINAL multi-MONEY project GPE has won since the breakup of GPE in DATE and takes place as a chill settles over Western oil companies struggling to push NORP-based deals through a legal maze.
+""I think there's really a question of how much GPE really wants the investment,"" said CARDINAL Western oil executive in GPE. ""With the PRODUCT, it's never really a question.""
+PERSON, resident manager of ORG unit ORG in GPE, said the NORP government had done much to make deals attractive to foreign investors.
+""There's a strong realisation here that some assistance is needed and that oil is going to be the primary driver of the economy,"" he said.
+Actual foreign oil investment in GPE has all but dried up as GPE struggles to pass tax and resource laws backing investors' projects and is MONEY out of a planned MONEY. No deals are close to the production stage.
+In contrast, GPE's flagship MONEY Azerbaijan International Operating Company (AIOC) project grouping CARDINAL international oil companies is scheduled to start pumping in DATE.
+GPE is not indifferent to the change in focus to high-yielding NORP reserves and has pushed to get NORP oil giant LUKoil involved in the projects -- partly, some analysts say, in exchange for not arguing over who owns NORP oil.
+GPE, GPE, GPE, GPE and GPE all border the sea. GPE says its resources should be shared equally but GPE follows a sectoral approach and is proceeding with deals in its area.
+""Of course, GPE is now our competitor,"" said PERSON, deputy head of LOC section for cooperation with ORG.
+He said GPE was ""analysing"" GPE's role in landing foreign oil deals but declined to say if the ministry would produce policy directives on the issue.
+NORP oil projects are next door to LOC region, which contains PERCENT of world oil reserves and produces DATE of global oil supplies. They will make GPE and neighbouring GPE big competitors to GPE.
+""Over DATE, production will shift from LOC to higher yielding NORP and LOC projects,"" PERSON, associate director of oil and gas at ORG in GPE, said in a recent interview.
+But the deals on LOC island do not have NORP majors as shareholders, and analysts say ORG's participation in leading NORP deals has kept GPE quiet on the NORP status issue.
+LUKoil could yet join the latest NORP group, which will tap the unexplored PERSON and NORP reserves.
+One hand GPE has not forced is the question of how the region's oil will be transported to Western markets.
+GPE is keen to earn crude oil transit tariffs and control supplies, but knows some new pipelines will probably go through GPE due to worries over increased tanker traffic through the Bosphorus.
+PERSON, +7095 CARDINAL 8520","The GPE stock market's recent falls offer a preview of the pain GPE's life insurance industry will face as a result of greater competition from planned ""Big Bang"" financial reforms, industry sources say.
+The fall in share prices means some of the insurance companies may have to post losses in DATE, increasing an already wide gap in financial strength between big and small firms, the sources said.
+But the real threat is expected intense competition from other financial sectors such as banking after LOC.
+""The Big Bang is the real threat, as it means fierce competition among all financial sectors, including banks and Western asset management firms,"" said an executive at a major life insurance firm.
+Prime Minister PERSON unveiled plans in DATE to liberalise GPE's financial markets by DATE under the GPE reforms, in which banks, brokers and insurance companies will be allowed to enter each other's turf.
+In the past, GPE's life insurance industry enjoyed spectacular growth as the nation's economic success enabled people to plan for the long-term financial security of their families, analysts said.
+But with the maturing of the core life insurance product market, big insurers are focusing on asset management.
+The life insurers are already facing increased competition after a revision to the law governing them allowed CARDINAL non-life insurers to set up life insurance subsidiaries DATE, raising to CARDINAL the number of life insurers in GPE.
+A spokesman for ORG, a subsidiary of ORG, said there were also concerns about how far the big commercial banks would be permitted to enter the insurance business under the GPE reforms.
+PERSON, an analyst at ORG, said the life insurance industry needed to increase its efficiency, particularly to fight off a challenge from the banks.
+The reforms are expected to allow over-the-counter sales of insurance policies by banks, he said.
+But even before that, some life insurers are in for a tough time. ""If stocks remain under pressure until the end of the current business year they will see unrealised profits on their shareholdings wiped out, forcing them to post losses,"" ORG ORG said.
+Falling stock prices reduce their unrealised profits on shareholdings. These unrealised profits are a source of funds to cover sudden losses and write-offs of problem loans and make up for negative spreads between low investment yields and already promised payouts.
+The payouts are calculated based on prospective investment yields at the time insurance policies were written.
+If the Nikkei average of CARDINAL leading shares is CARDINAL on DATE, when the companies close their books for CARDINAL, unrealised profits on shareholdings at CARDINAL life insurers -- ORG, ORG and Kyoei Life -- will be wiped out, the sources said.
+A Nikkei fall to CARDINAL would make the unrealised profits at ORG, ORG and ORG disappear, while the crucial level is CARDINAL for ORG and ORG, they said.
+On DATE, the Nikkei closed down CARDINAL points at DATE. But on DATE TIME the index bounced back, rising CARDINAL points by TIME.
+Chiyoda, ORG, NORP, GPE, GPE GPE, and GPE all posted before-tax current losses in DATE. Toho also did so, for DATE.",0
+"PERSON holds much-delayed parliamentary elections on DATE with voters hoping that democratic reforms and oil development will bring a lasting end to sometimes bloody ethnic rivalry.
+CARDINAL nomads in the sprawling arid nation on the edge of LOC started voting on DATE, DATE before the rest of the CARDINAL voters throughout the NORP north and centre and largely NORP south.
+A total of CARDINAL candidates from CARDINAL parties will be vying for the CARDINAL seats in a new national assembly which will convene on DATE when the former NORP colony's democratic transition finally draws to an end.
+""Oil is really what is at stake. NORP and NORP differences have calmed although NORP fundamentalism is rising,"" CARDINAL diplomat told ORG.
+Polls open from TIME (CARDINAL ORG) to TIME (CARDINAL ORG).
+NORP troops, stationed in GPE under a defence pact, will help fly voting materials and the CARDINAL international observers to far-flung polling stations.
+President PERSON, the former northern guerrilla leader who seized power in a NORP-backed coup in DATE, won a long-delayed presidential election in DATE against southern rival and fellow general Wadal Abdelkader Kamougue.
+ORG ORG, leading member of the CARDINAL-party ORG coalition, starts favourite to win DATE's election or to be able to cobble together a working majority after the poll.
+Election officials expect vote counting to end by DATE, provisional results DATE and final results by DATE, once the appeal court has checked them. Any run-offs will be held on DATE.
+Many opposition parties disputed the ORDINAL-round results of the presidential poll and urged their supporters to boycott the runoff but polling passed off peacefully. The opposition are grouped in a CARDINAL-party coalition.
+The capital was calm on DATE following a peaceful campaign, which ended on DATE.
+Election issues tended to be local or ethnic but diplomats said that all parties were looking for a fair distribution of any wealth from oil, which is expected to come on stream by DATE. PERSON has CARDINAL ethnic groups.
+""People still largely vote on local grounds and PERSON is not president of all NORP,"" former national assembly leader, PERSON, another defeated presidential hopeful, told ORG.
+""Turnout will be low because people know the fraud apparatus is still in place and nothing much will change,"" he predicted.
+Chad has known coups, civil war or conflict with northern neighbour GPE for much of its life from independence in DATE.
+It had a CARDINAL-member interim legislature under a DATE transitional charter. Elections were repeatedly delayed, the parliamentary poll at least twice in DATE. Election officials cited organisational delays.","Delayed export financing is slowing GPE cocoa arrivals but shipments for existing contracts will continue ahead of an imminent government decision on licences and marketing rates, exporters and shipping sources said on DATE.
+""The central bank has stopped backing private lenders,"" said CARDINAL exporter. ""Buying activity has slowed down in DATE.""
+No immediate figures on  latest arrivals were available on DATE.
+CARDINAL major bank has stopped financing, and exporters expect others to follow suit unless rates are published soon.
+""Exporters with licences from CARDINAL and enough money are carrying on buying and shipping. DATE contracts are fewer than DATE but still have to be met,"" said CARDINAL exporter.
+GPE opened its CARDINAL cocoa marketing season on DATE but delayed an announcemement on guideline buyer and exporter marketing rates. ""They have never been so late,"" said an exporter.
+Almost no cocoa trucking activity was visible at GPE on DATE. But large consignments of cocoa can be seen in warehouses and total port stocks are now estimated by shippers to be QUANTITY.
+CARDINAL banker financing some large exporters said many of their clients had no cocoa in port and the owner of the stocks was not clear. A large shipment to GPE from GPE is expected within DATE.
+""Port stocks will probably slip before cocoa arrivals pick up after licensing,"" said CARDINAL exporter. ""Activity will probably pick up after DATE when licence finances have been sorted out.""
+Exporters are expecting total arrivals for DATE of QUANTITY, rising to a DATE peak before a slow DATE tail-off. Exporters' total year crop estimates pivot QUANTITY.
+Shipping companies expected licences to be out by DATE but are now waiting for an announcement DATE.  ""Many companies we deal with were saying licences would be out by DATE but we have heard nothing about rates,"" said CARDINAL source.
+Licences are usually announced by ORG but no date has been set.
+Caistab sources said DATE a list of approved cocoa exporters had been drawn up by DATE but still had to be signed by ORG. The list had been expected by exporters on DATE.
+Caistab president PERSON is still in the GPE, but could return DATE, said PERSON sources.
+Exporters have rejected PRODUCT requests to them to argue for a cut in freight rates. They have also rejected a government plan to make exporters responsible for collecting buyers' unpaid income taxes.
+""The PRODUCT is also trying to get exporters to pull down freight rates but they (exporters) are refusing to approach shipping lines,"" said another port source.
+""Exporters want the rates set the same, so their rebate from the PRODUCT is not cut,"" the source added.
+Pod counters recently up country said large quantities of cocoa were seen along roadsides and moving through warehouses.
+""DATE arrivals will be strong as soon as the uncertainty is over,"" said CARDINAL.
+--Abidjan ORG +225 CARDINAL",1
+"NORP Prime Minister PERSON kept his options open on whether the domination of his ORG (ODS) in this DATE's ORDINAL round of ORG elections might encourage a quest for a larger mandate.
+As results for the new upper house came in late on DATE, ORG reserved comment on possibly using his party's strength in the ORG races as a signal to seek new elections to the lower house in order to win back a majority government.
+ORG's ODS won PERCENT of the total vote on DATE in the ORDINAL test since his conservative CARDINAL-party coalition lost its majority in DATE lower-house elections when ORG (CSSD) posted a surprising ORDINAL place result.
+This time the opposition CSSD won PERCENT of the vote after falling CARDINAL percentage points short of the ORG's PERCENT in DATE. But voter turnout this time was very light making it difficult to draw broad conclusions.
+Klaus, who like all ministers sits in the lower house, hedged his bets on possible early lower house elections.
+""I've said many times this country does not need another election. It needs to function, work,"" ORG said in a panel discussion on NORP Televisoin after the vote.
+But he added: ""If the ORG vote gives a chance to go forward, it'll be good for all of us.""
+The ODS put CARDINAL candidates through to DATE runoff elections out of the CARDINAL constituencies, and won CARDINAL seats outright by taking PERCENT of the vote.
+In CARDINAL districts, ORG had the top candidate go into the runoff, while CSSD had CARDINAL candidates in a runoff, but won no seats outright and had nobody on top in any constiuency.
+Exactly DATE since the revolution which would end Communism began, CARDINAL in CARDINAL eligible PRODUCT voted, CARDINAL the turnout for the previous CARDINAL lower-house elections since the DATE revolution.
+Analysts said many NORP felt that the upper house, which will have limited legislative powers and act more as an advisory body, was redundant.
+Pre-election opinion polls showed many people did not did not know who was running in their district, and there was a wide misunderstanding of the CARDINAL-round voting system.
+But no one really knows how the dynamics will change in DATE runoffs or if turnout will improve.
+""The situation is not as rosy as it may appear..."" cautioned ORG party vice-chairman, Foreign Minister PERSON even after the strong result for ORG was apparent.
+Analysts said that it would be too soon to declare the ORDINAL round vote an unmitigated success for ORG, as the ORDINAL round will be much more polarised and the choices between CARDINAL candidates instead of many will be distinct.","GPE's PERSON DATE agreed to merge with GPE-based mutual fund company ORG in a deal valued at MONEY, creating one of the world's largest investment management businesses.
+The deal is the largest in GPE fund history, industry experts said.
+The combined group will be called PERSON and have MONEY under management. The merger will be paid for with MONEY in new stock and the rest in cash and debt, ORG officials said.
+""We are creating a prototype company for the future,"" PERSON, ORG's chief financial officer, said in an interview.
+Invesco Chairman PERSON, who will lead the combined group, said it would have ""the scale necessary for success as a financially strong and independent business operating in an increasingly concentrated industry.""
+McCullough stressed the deal was a merger of the CARDINAL companies, which would focus on growing revenue but retain their individual identities.
+""They're buying themselves into the GPE money management market,"" said PERSON, an equity analyst at ORG ORGamp; PERSON, an investment banking firm in GPE.
+PERSON, analyst at ORG, said PERSON is buying at the top of the Wall Street market, which many experts see as overpriced. He said UBS strategists are forecasting a PERCENT downward correction in the Dow Jones industrial average DATE, and if it occurs, it would leave ORG looking rather expensive.
+""The deal is exquisitely timed for the ORG shareholders and conversely not so exquisitely for NORP shareholders,"" Cross said.
+Invesco said it would fund the deal by issuing CARDINAL new shares to ORG shareholders. These would be valued at MONEY. ORG shareholders will own PERCENT of the merged company.
+McCullough said another MONEY needed to fund the merger would come in the form of cash and debt.
+The merger presented a chance for the CARDINAL companies to use different distribution channels and approaches. PERSON said he did not forsee any culture clash between the CARDINAL.
+There would be no change in their differing approaches, with PERSON continuing to be a ""no-load"" house, selling products direct to the customer, and ORG selling its CARDINAL funds through brokers.
+McCullough said the cost of the merger was not excessive.
+""There's no question that it is a lot of money, but we view this as a long-term investment for both of us,"" he said. The long-term commitment was underlined by the fact that PERCENT of the combined shares would be held by management.
+Both companies were ""really active managers"" and would stay that way rather than moving to passive management, ORG said, adding that PERSON's global infrastructure presented a major opportunity.
+He denied the heavy exposure to GPE would hinder PERSON from making the most of opportunities in other parts of the world. ""We would like nothing better than to find opportunities in LOC and LOC,"" he said.
+The merger would enhance the group's strength in GPE and lead to cost savings, officials said.
+McCullough said the merger must be approved by ORG and ORG shareholders and other approvals were required. The deal should be completed DATE, the company said.",0
+"ORG on DATE became the latest NORP regional electricity company (Rec) to attract bid speculation after GPE firm Entergy was reported to be mulling a QUANTITY (MONEY) bid.
+ORG declined comment on a report in ORG that confidential documents showed the GPE company was seeking MONEY to acquire an unnamed NORP electricity firm whose financial profile matched that of ORG.
+Entergy told ORG that any talks with another party were ""too early in the scheme of things to be really meaningful.""
+""As far as specifying a target of that interest, we're not simply going to comment on what has been speculated and rumoured,"" Entergy spokesman PERSON said.
+However, he declined to deny ORG article.
+Shares in ORG touched a high of MONEY before easing back to close at MONEY, up MONEY. The newspaper article said confidential ORG company documents referred to used a code name ""LOC"" for the target company whose financial profile met that of ORG on a number of points.
+The ORG said the bid was assumed in the documents to be for MONEY per share. The newspaper quoted ORG's Sweeney as saying ORG was interested in the NORP market and ""obviously if you're interested, CARDINAL of the results could be an acquisition.""
+The article followed a denial by ORG on DATE of a report in GPE's DATE Telegraph newspaper that the GPE firm was considering a bid for ORG. The electricity sector has seen a flurry of bid speculation recently over the CARDINAL remaining independent NORP. ORG currently faces its ORDINAL hostile offer in DATE as it tries to fend off a MONEY ($MONEY Pound)","NORP water and sewerage company LOC saw DATE profits surge on DATE and it hiked its dividend PERCENT, as expected, with a promise of real dividend increases of PERCENT in DATE.
+""The dividend policy will continue to be based on the pursuit of progressive growth,"" the company said in a statement.
+South West Water's pretax profits for DATE rose to MONEY (MONEY), up PERCENT and ahead of expectations which were CARDINAL.
+It had promised to pay out an interim dividend of MONEY when CARDINAL proposed bids for it, from ORG and Wessex, were blocked by the GPE government in DATE.
+In a statement, the company said it hoped to raise the total dividend for DATE by PERCENT and then reach PERCENT real increases in the annual payout to shareholders.
+But DATE surge in profits was unlikely to be repeated, finance director PERSON told ORG.
+""I do not think a PERCENT increase in ORG (profit before tax) is likely to occur at DATE,"" he said, nor in DATE immediately following. ""But we are looking for profit increases,"" he added.
+Shares in the company gained MONEY to MONEY by 0940 ORG.
+PERSON, which reported DATE, saw DATE profits rise PERCENT and raised its dividend PERCENT.
+Thames Water, which kicked off the flow of interim results in the sector on DATE, turned in pretax profits before exceptionals up PERCENT and raised its dividend PERCENT.
+South West Water has also committed to pay out a rebate of QUANTITY each to customers after trade secretary PERSON blocked the bids, which were awaiting approval before being priced.
+PERSON said the company's strategy now was to ""focus on the core business...and develop very carefully the strategy of the non-regulated businesses.""
+South West Water has interests in waste management, environmental instrumentation and construction services, which contributed MONEY to profits in DATE.
+PERSON said recent tax changes affecting some share buy backs would not alter the company's strategy of only using its mandate if it were in the interests of shareholders.
+South West Water said a complicated financing deal which involves standby letters of credit which are counter-indemnified by cash deposits had contributed MONEY to first CARDINAL profits.
+The facility should boost DATE profits by MONEY in each of DATE, the company added.
+It said capital expenditure was MONEY in DATE and ""a further substantial uplift is planned for DATE.""
+Water leakage, an issue which has triggered severe criticism of water companies from politicians and lobby groups, has been cut to PERCENT from PERCENT in DATE, the company said.
+Its target of PERCENT of water leaking from infrastructure by DATE should be reached, it added.
+The company's non-executive chairman PERSON steps down in DATE and a replacement is being sought after non-executive deputy chairman PERSON bowed out.
+($MONEY Pound)",1
+"GPE-based ORG, continuing an NORP invasion of the recently privatised utility industry in GPE, agreed DATE to acquire ORG for MONEY (MONEY).
+Executives from ORG met NORP management DATE to offer QUANTITY ($MONEY) a share for CARDINAL of CARDINAL remaining independent electric companies in GPE.
+But NORP shares languished well below the offer price DATE as concerns emerged that the bid might face obstacles from NORP competition authorities.
+""Everyone's expecting the MMC (ORG) to take a close look at the deal,"" said CARDINAL trader.
+Dominion, based in GPE, GPE, said DATE it was considering a bid ""at a price not much in excess of MONEY per share."" But ORG scorned that price, saying it would undervalue the ORG-based electricity company.
+NORP Chairman Sir PERSON said DATE that his board was recommending the latest offer ""because it represents fair value for an excellent business, which has successfully differentiated itself from the sector.""
+CARDINAL of GPE's original CARDINAL regional electricity companies have already been bought -- CARDINAL by GPE firms -- since they came up for grabs DATE when the government's protective golden share expired, DATE after privatisation in DATE.
+""ORG's offer looks a fair compromise price,"" said PERSON, utilities analyst at PERSON.
+But he added that there were ""very genuine concerns"" that the offer might be referred to ORG.
+Dominion Chief Financial Officer PERSON said in an interview that the company was talking to the regulator.
+""We intend to run this as a stand-alone business,"" he said, adding that he certainly hoped for approval.
+He also said the group hoped to keep GPE management team, which is highly regarded by industry analysts.
+PERSON said ORG looked forward to the diversification LOC would bring to it and said the GPE company would bring strengths to the NORP firm.
+Dominion's stock gained MONEY to $MONEY in early trading on ORG.","ORG on DATE became the latest NORP regional electricity company (Rec) to attract bid speculation after GPE firm Entergy was reported to be mulling a QUANTITY bid.
+ORG declined comment on a report in ORG that confidential documents showed the GPE company was seeking MONEY to acquire an unnamed NORP electricity firm whose financial profile matched that of ORG.
+Entergy told ORG that any talks with another party were ""too early in the scheme of things to be really meaningful.""
+""As far as specifying a target of that interest, we're not simply going to comment on what has been speculated and rumoured,"" Entergy spokesman PERSON said.
+However, he declined to deny ORG article.
+Shares in ORG touched a high of MONEY before easing back to close at MONEY, up MONEY. The newspaper article said confidential ORG company documents referred to used a code name ""LOC"" for the target company whose financial profile met that of ORG on a number of points.
+The ORG said the bid was assumed in the documents to be for MONEY per share. The newspaper quoted ORG's Sweeney as saying ORG was interested in the NORP market and ""obviously if you're interested, CARDINAL of the results could be an acquisition.""
+The article followed a denial by ORG on DATE of a report in GPE's DATE Telegraph newspaper that the GPE firm was considering a bid for ORG. The electricity sector has seen a flurry of bid speculation recently over the CARDINAL remaining independent NORP. ORG currently faces its ORDINAL hostile offer in DATE as it tries to fend off a MONEY.
+($MONEY Pound)",1
+"GPE defended on DATE its decision to exercise its veto at ORG for the ORDINAL time in DATE, killing a ORG plan to monitor disarmament and a ceasefire in GPE.
+""We had no choice but to vote against the draft decision on peacekeeping,"" the ORG quoted ORG spokesman PERSON as saying.
+""Clearly, the government of GPE must be wholly responsible,"" he said and made clear that GPE had no objection to the dispatch of ORG peacekeepers to oversee a peace that ended a brutal DATE civil war.
+Shen accused GPE of forcing GPE to exercise its veto because the NORP country had maintained ties with GPE, which GPE regards as a renegade province not entitled to international diplomatic links.
+At a late Friday TIME meeting, all ORG members except GPE voted in favour of a resolution that would have sent CARDINAL peacekeepers to GPE for DATE under a U.N.-brokered peace accord signed on DATE between the government and leftist rebels.
+In GPE, the ORG spokesman said PERSON was to blame not only for recognising GPE but for joining a number of other small countries since DATE to sponsor a ORG resolution aimed at securing ORG membership for the NORP economic powerhouse.
+Shen also lashed out at GPE's decision to invite GPE Foreign Minister PERSON to DATE peace signing ceremony in GPE.
+GPE had offered solutions to the impasse but GPE had remained resolute, PERSON charged.
+""GPE cannot expect on the one hand to do something that harms the sovereignty and territorial integrity of GPE while on the other hand requesting GPE to cooperate on peacekeeping,"" Shen said.
+The negative vote on DATE by GPE, which along with GPE, GPE, GPE and GPE, has veto power in the CARDINAL-member council, meant that ORG President PERSON of GPE had to announce that the resolution had failed.
+It was GPE's first ORG veto in DATE.
+GPE has given generous economic aid to several small, impoverished states around the world in its bid to break out of a diplomatic isolation imposed by GPE. GPE was expelled from the ORG in DATE and replaced by GPE as the rightful representative of GPE.
+Under the peace accord, GPE's army would redeploy units to specified locations, after which troops from the rebel ORG (URNG) would move to CARDINAL assembly points and disarm. The ORG observers were to verify the process.
+The drafters of the resolution -- GPE, GPE, GPE, GPE, GPE and GPE --  decided to push ahead with the vote, despite GPE's threat of a veto, saying that further talks could not overcome the differences.
+GPE had never spelled out publicly what GPE was expected to do. But diplomats said it sought a pledge to refrain from sponsoring further ORG resolutions and to stop receiving high-ranking NORP visitors.","GPE is unlikely to concede on its demand to enter ORG as a developing country and has the patience to hunker down for a long wait to win agreement to its terms, a senior NORP analyst said.
+""Both sides need to make concessions, but there is CARDINAL issue  of principle on which GPE will not change,"" PERSON, head of the department of ORG under the leading think tank, ORG, told ORG in an interview over DATE.
+""GPE will only enter as a developing country,"" PERSON said, referring to CARDINAL stumbling block -- that of GPE's entry status. GPE insists that the size of GPE's economy ranks it as a developed country.
+""This is a matter of principle,"" PERSON said.
+GPE was deeply disappointed when its application to join the world trade body as a founding member DATE failed, and talks since in GPE have proceeded at a snail's pace.
+PERSON said he expected little progress when ministers of the ORG's CARDINAL member states meet in GPE DATE, with GPE attending under observer status, but said GPE would seize the opportunity to explain its stand in meetings on the sidelines.
+""After we gain recognition of our status then the talks could more easily proceed,"" PERSON said. ""There may be the possibility of concessions (by GPE) on some concrete issues.""
+PERSON declined to say where GPE might be prepared to offer concessions in line with a ""road map"" presented to GPE by GPE outlining liberalisations it wants before it will support NORP membership.
+He said GPE's economy was already remarkably open compared with some of its neighbours, such as GPE and GPE.
+""When you go shopping in GPE, you see goods from all over the world on every shelf,"" he said. ""You don't see nearly so many NORP products on foreign shelves.""
+NORP President PERSON announced at EVENT forum DATE in the GPE that GPE would slash average import tariffs to PERCENT by DATE from the current PERCENT.
+PERSON said non-tariff barriers still existed in GPE, citing the service sector as CARDINAL area to which foreign firms were eager to gain admittance, but insisted GPE was gradually pulling down these barriers.
+""Opening up requires a process,"" he said. ""It is a fact that GPE is a backward country and must protect some parts of its economy. The demands on us must not be too harsh.""
+Pei offered a less optimistic view than GPE's Foreign Minister PERSON, who has said talks with GPE on entry could be wrapped up by DATE as well as ORG chief PERSON, who has said DATE could see a solution to the exclusion of the world's most populous nation from the world trade body.
+PERSON said DATE seemed a rather ambitious target given the distance between GPE and GPE on many issues, but said he hoped to see entry by DATE.
+""There are both advantages and disadvantages to GPE from entry to the ORG,"" PERSON said, setting off the access to worldwide markets for NORP goods against the cost and competition its domestic industry would face.
+""GPE's stand now is that it is up to the other side,"" PERSON said.
+""GPE actively wants membership but it can wait. It will be good for GPE to enter but it won't be a catastrophe if we have to wait,"" he said.
+""It is in no one's interests to keep GPE out.""",1
+"Ambitious plans to establish NORP mutual funds in GPE include the ""cleansing"" of profits disallowed under NORP law, a senior fund manager told a mutual funds conference on DATE.
+NORP law prohibits NORP from earning interest on bank deposits or investing in certain types of equities.
+But Nik Ezar Nik Bolia, chief executive officer of GPE's ORG-RHB ORG, said the company had come up with a tried and tested method of working around the rules.
+""The cleansing process takes out the impact of the interest earned,"" he said. ""It's against NORP to gain interest on a deposit, so we remove and give to charity a proportion of the total profit.""
+ORG-RHB's efforts have lured MONEY into a domestic NORP fund in GPE, where PERCENT of the population is NORP, he said.
+PERCENT of GPE's population of CARDINAL is NORP, suggesting an equally promising future awaits any fund that appeals to the nation's religious principles.
+""LOC has a combined population of CARDINAL NORP,"" PERSON said. ""Therefore any product based on NORP principles will be highly successful.""
+To allay concern about stock market investments, GPE's ORG has set up panels of scholars to vet individual stocks to ensure they are ""halal"", or comply with LAW law by avoiding liquor, gambling, pornography or footwear, PERSON said.
+""Then we look at the core business,"" he said. ""If it is halal that is fine, but if a subisidiary is not halal, the parent company will be rejected. However, if the subsidiary is halal and the parent company not, the subsidiary is halal and will be accepted.""
+The same system will be set up in GPE by ORG-RHB's subisidiary, ORG, PERSON said.
+However, there are substantial obstacles blocking the path to NORP mutual fund investment in GPE. Among the most obvious is a relatively casual approach to religion.
+""In GPE, the law is enforced. If you are not fasting the police can come and catch you, but in GPE, religion is encouraged but if you don't do it no one really cares,"" said CARDINAL delegate to the conference.
+Nik countered that PERCENT of GPE's NORP are observant, but conceded that a CARDINAL-person survey disclosed that most were already investing in prohibited bank deposits.
+""Earning interest on bank deposits is a no-no under WORK_OF_ART law and PERCENT said they knew that, but there is no alternative investment,"" PERSON said.
+He admitted that persuading these investors to switch into lower-yielding stock market funds subject to profit-cleansing presented a formidable challenge. But he said that savings put towards the NORP pilgrimage to ORG offered hope.
+""That will be the trick that we have to perform...but every year GPE has a high proportion of people going to GPE,"" he said.
+""This is my target market. If CARDINAL of them were to save from ground zero to CARDINAL rupiah into our fund before they redeem to go to GPE, it is a captive market.""
+DATE CARDINAL NORP NORP pay CARDINAL rupiah to participate in the government-organised pilgramage to GPE.
+(US$MONEY = CARDINAL rupiah)","GPE funds are expected to erect ""NORP walls"" between asset management and traders after revelations of unsanctioned trades at the colony's biggest fund manager, ORG.
+Central dealing, a system that prevents fund managers from executing their own trades, is gaining favour in LOC after DATE shocking disclosure of late allocation of trades by CARDINAL of GPE most prominent fund managers, PERSON.
+""There is an awareness in the pension (fund) community that this is an issue in GPE,"" said PERSON, executive director at ORGamp; ORG ""I think this could turn out to be a positive for the investment management industry -- no-one will get hired going forward without central dealing.""
+Regulators unveiled severe punishment DATE for PERSON's actions, which involved delaying the allocation of his trades until the price had changed. Some of the deals involved his own personal trading account.
+GPE's ORG (IMRO) and ORG (SFC) in GPE fined PERSON 700,000 stg, revoked the registration for ORG former chief executive and cancelled the authorisation for ORG in GPE.
+PERSON, jointly owned by PERSON and PERSON groups, also paid MONEY in compensation.
+ORG said they were convinced PERSON was committed to establishing a culture of regulatory compliance, and that central dealing was CARDINAL useful step towards that goal.
+""Central dealing simply means all the people managing money should place their orders through a central desk,"" said PERSON, senior director at the ORG.
+""If a fund manager can run his orders through all the brokers in town it's very difficult to track.""
+Placing another layer between the fund manager and his or her client creates a NORP wall, reducing the opportunity for a fund manager to manipulate his or her orders. CARDINAL people are involved the transaction rather than CARDINAL.
+NORP walls are supposed to be invisible but inviolate divisions between asset management operations that invest for clients, and sister broking and corporate finance departments whose clients are often bought by the funds.
+PERSON said it would have central dealing desks set up in GPE and GPE by DATE.
+Most major investment managers in GPE and GPE employ central dealing, but a quick review of major fund houses in GPE revealed that many here do not.
+One of PERSON major competitors said all trades were put through different trading desks dedicated to individual markets rather than a central desk. Another competitor said a new automated order input system would eliniate the need for a central desk.
+Other fund managers warned that central desks do not eradicate the opportunity for fraud, especially if there is a culture of non-compliance among the organisation's dealers.
+It would be possible for fund managers and brokers on a central dealing desk to work together to move markets in a favourable direction before certain trades are executed.
+""From time to time people in GPE have had trouble with dealers,"" the fund manager warned. ""It removes CARDINAL area but it opens up the door to another.""
+Regulators DATE stressed the importance of a ""culture"" of compliance throughout an organisation, and said they would be carefully watching PERSON and other fund companies operating in GPE.
+""CARDINAL of the leading asset consulting firms here who was, I believe, acting on behalf of several institutional pension clients, just called to reconfirm that the managers of those various pension clients did have central dealing,"" ORG said.
+""This raises concerns for individuals in any institution,"" said PERSON, vice-president at ORG. ""They have to have regard for internal controls and compliance.""
+As a subsidiary of an NORP bank based in GPE, ORG is regulated by ORG and ORG.",1