The Full Story Rights Leader Jackson to Visit Serbia in Bid to Free 3 Captives ROME - The Reverend Jesse Jackson, the U.S. civil rights activist and former presidential candidate, said Sunday that he will fly to the Balkans on Monday in a bid to meet President Slobodan Milosevic of Yugoslavia and seek the release of three U.S. soldiers held by the Serbs. The top finance officials of Italy and Germany gave their blessing Sunday to the idea of an alliance between Deutsche Telekom AG and Telecom Italia SpA that could create Europe's leading telephone company and result in possibly the world's biggest merger. ROME - Prime Minister Massimo D'Alema of Italy struggled to keep his cabinet together on Friday in the face of a threat by his Communist partners to withdraw its ministers unless a truce in the war between NATO and Yugoslavia was achieved over the Easter weekend. The Full Story Germany And France Said to Back Prodi for EU - France and Germany have agreed that their first choice for president of the European Commission is former Prime Minister Romano Prodi of Italy, according to European officials. Latin America will sink into recession this year, but the region is likely to stage a recovery in 2000 that could bring a faster return to growth than in the troubled countries of Asia, according to senior international financial officials.
Telecom is Europe's third largest telecommunications group.
The Full Story U.S. Talks of 'Crisis' in Japan Trade ROME - Trade tensions between the United States and Japan are mounting, and Washington is prepared to impose sanctions on Tokyo unless Japan takes rapid action to open its markets in steel, construction and other sectors, according to two senior U.S. officials. Switzerland - Hans Tietmeyer, president of the Bundesbank, said Sunday he would soon recommend to the wealthy Group of Seven nations the formation of a committee of financial regulators to exchange information and track potential problems in the global economy before they erupted. ROME - A day after the euro's powerful debut, Italy's Treasury minister warned Tuesday that the European Central Bank could cut interest rates if the new single currency were to become too strong, while J.P. Morgan forecast an even more robust euro this spring.