*** FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY ***

UK BUSINESSES AND Y2K

Businesses have been "lulled into a false sense of security" about the ability of some software products to cope with the so-called Millennium Bug, it was claimed today.

http://www.lineone.net/newswire/cgi-bin/newswire.cgi/skynews/uk/story/1999/8/c--1999-8-27-0n6.html

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MONEY

The dollar did not receive help from the U.S. stock market, which saw sharp declines Thursday. The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 127.59 at 11,198.45 after setting a new record Wednesday.

http://www.tampabayonline.net/news/news102h.htm

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INTERBANK LOANS

Xinhua via NewsEdge Corporation : SHANGHAI (Aug. 25) XINHUA - The Shanghai branch of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) and the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi of Japan signed a contract on interbank business today.

http://www.newspage.com/cgi-bin/NA.GetStory?story=v0825158.6xi&date=19990826&Query=xinhua

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GOT BLOOD?

WASHINGTON (AP) - The government is taking the first small steps to address fears that serious, nationwide blood shortages could hit as early as next year.

http://www.tampabayonline.net/news/news102g.htm

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POWER RATIONING

Xinhua via NewsEdge Corporation : NAIROBI (Aug. 25) XINHUA - The Kenyan government will start power rationing in the country from September 1 due to the poor long rains between March and June which left water levels low in Kenya's three main energy reservoirs.

The supply situation, the company said, would be further improved at the end of October when repairs will be completed to the 43-megawatt power plant which has been out of commission following a mechanical breakdown.

http://www.newspage.com/cgi-bin/NA.GetStory?story=v0825010.7xi&date=19990826&Query=xinhua

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INTELLIGENCE

WASHINGTON, Aug. 26 (UPI) - A newly released report says U.S. intelligence agencies must increase cooperation, as well as develop new techniques and technology, to guard against threats from hostile countries and groups.

http://www.vny.com/cf/News/upidetail.cfm?QID=107168

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FIRES

Xinhua via NewsEdge Corporation : ROME (Aug. 25) XINHUA - Two refinery workers were seriously burned when a fire broke out early Wednesday in the gasoline pumping station of the Api refinery at Italy's Falconara Marittima, the plant supervisor said.

http://www.newspage.com/cgi-bin/NA.GetStory?story=v0825167.8xi&date=19990826&Query=xinhua

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DISASTER RELIEF

EDGARTOWN, Mass., Aug. 26 (UPI) - The Clinton administration (Thursday) declared a state of "major disaster" across a six-county area of Minnesota, providing money to help local governments rebuild from three straight months of heavy rains and ice storms. The federal disaster aid declaration covers the Minnesota counties of Kittson, Marshall, Pennington, Polk, Red Lake and Roseau.

http://www.vny.com/cf/News/upidetail.cfm?QID=107163

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EC MERGER INVESTIGATIONS CANCELED

vienna, aug. 23, irna -- the review by the european commission (ec) of two mega-mergers - between exxon and mobil, and between bp amoco and arco - has been cancelled, according to sources here.

http://www.irna.com/newshtm/eng/01170506.htm

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U.S. EXPORT SALES: PURCHASER COMMODITY TONNAGE DELIVERY DATE

Egypt:

Soft Red Winter Wheat 60,000 Oct Soft White Wheat 60,000 Sep Japan:

13.0 pct Hard Red Wheat 20,000 Oct 14.0 pct Dark Northern Spring 20,000 Western White Wheat 40,000 China:

Soybeans 25,000 Sep Totals: Wheat 200,000 tonnes; Soybeans 25,000 tonnes.

http://www.vny.com/cf/News/upidetail.cfm?QID=107088

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WAGE CUT BACKS

(JAPAN) The National Personnel Authority recommended Aug. 11 that the annual salaries of central government employees in fiscal 1999 be lower than the previous year to reflect economic difficulties in the private sector. It is the first time for the government body, which has made recommendations on public servant wages to the Diet and the cabinet every summer since 1948, to recommend a cutback.

http://home.kyodo.co.jp/cgi-bin/kwsWeekly

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PHARMACEUTICAL ISSUES

NEW YORK, AUG 26 (UPI) - Following are closing prices for the largest pharmaceutical companies Thursday:

Stock: Price: Change Abbott Labs Inc: 44 1-4: off 1 1-4

Am Home Prodcts: 46: off 1 7-8

Bristol Myer Sq: 73 3-8: off 2 5-8

Johnson & Jhnsn: 104 1-2: off 1 1-4

Lilly Eli & Co: 75 1-8: off 1-2 Merck & Co Inc: 69: off 1 1-2 Pfizer Inc: 39 1-2: off 7-8 Pharmacia Upjhn: 52 1-4: up 7-8 Schering Plough: 54 5-8: off 1 3-8 Warner Lambert: 68 5-8: off 1 3-4

http://www.vny.com/cf/News/upidetail.cfm?QID=107057

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COVER-UP

BELGRADE, Yugoslavia, Aug. 26 (UPI) - Yugoslav Foreign Minister Zivadin Jovanovic is accusing U.S. KFOR forces of trying to cover up the discovery of a mass grave containing the bodies of ethnic Serbs in Kosovo and demanded an urgent meeting of the U.N. Security Council.

http://www.vny.com/cf/News/upidetail.cfm?QID=107041

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APE-NESS

WASHINGTON, Aug. 26 (UPI) - The partial skeleton of a primitive ape found in a cliffside in Kenya has shed more light on the origins of humans and the great apes, as well as on the move from trees to ground for human anscestors. Researchers at Northeastern Ohio University College of Medicine and their colleagues say the primitive ape lived about 15 million years ago. The find confirms the existence of a new ape genus - Equatorius. The report appears in Friday's issue of the journal Science.

http://www.vny.com/cf/News/upidetail.cfm?QID=107022

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HUMOR

Fuji Bank has sent e-mail tainted with a computer virus to dozens of fund managers worldwide but has taken steps to eliminate the virus, a spokesman for the bank said Friday. Hiroshi Takahashi said that the bug makes recipients' computers display a message from Fuji Bank on the 14th day of each month telling the viewer in English that he or she is ''a big stupid jerk.''

http://home.kyodo.co.jp/cgi-bin/briefsStory#19990827810

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CHEMICAL ISSUES

NEW YORK, AUG 26 (UPI) - Following are mid-morning prices for the largest diversified chemical companies Thursday:

Stock: Price: Change Dow Chemical: 118 1-4: off 1 5-8 DuPont Co: 69: off 1 3-4 Hercules Inc: 35: off 1-2 Rohm & Haas Co: 39 3-8: off 3-4 Union Carbide : 59 1-2: off 3-8

http://www.vny.com/cf/News/upidetail.cfm?QID=106889

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BORDER PATROL

McALLEN, Texas, Aug. 26 (UPI) - U.S. law enforcement agencies (Thursday) are facing a lawsuit over their plans to cut vegetation, build fences, and set up lighting to crackdown on illegal border traffic in South Texas. The Defenders of the Wildlife, Sierra Club, and the Frontera Audubon Society say the proposed Border Patrol program would ruin the last remaining habitat for ocelots and jaguarundis, two endangered cat species.

http://www.vny.com/cf/News/upidetail.cfm?QID=106828

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GORE WAFFLES

WASHINGTON, Aug 26 - Vice President Al Gore shocked scientists on Thursday with a statement from his office that local school boards had the right to teach creationism, although he personally favored the teaching of evolution.

http://www.yahoo.co.uk/headlines/19990826/world/0935715161-0000063820.html

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SOUTH AFRICA

JOHANNESBURG, Aug 26 - South African unions and the government each refused to give ground on Thursday over deadlocked pay negotiations which have provoked the country's most serious industrial action since the end of apartheid.

http://www.yahoo.co.uk/headlines/19990826/world/0935664717-0000063076.html

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NO FUEL FOR THE POOR

Gas and electricity companies were accused of exploiting the UK's poorest people today as a consumer watchdog launched a campaign against fuel poverty.

http://www.lineone.net/newswire/cgi-bin/newswire.cgi/skynews/uk/story/1999/8/c--1999-8-27-4n7.html

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-- Stan Faryna (info@giglobal.com), August 27, 1999