Attorneys for the Liggett Group, the nation's fifth-largest cigarette producer, and Justice Department officials were expected to discuss whether tobacco companies hid data on health risks associated with smoking from the Food and Drug Administration. Sources familiar with the situation said Liggett is seeking a plea bargain in the Justice Department's investigation of tobacco companies. Scientologists in the US enlisted religious scholars and clergy from other faiths to protest against a delegation of German lawmakers who were meeting with members of Congress in Washington. State governments in Germany consider Scientology a moneymaking organization with ties to crime syndicates rather than as a religion, and the national government has placed it under a year's observation because of concerns that it may pose a threat to democracy. But a team member said it was too soon to tell whether fluorescent protein cells introduced into laboratory frogs had more than a temporary application.
Scientists consider frogs cheaper and easier to work with than mice.
Led by electronic equipment, orders for big-ticket manufactured goods rose 0.7 percent in January, the Commerce Department reported. Analysts said the increase was about half of what had been expected and could be an early indication that the Asian economic crisis is affecting US factories. If approved by stockholders and regulators, the new concern would carry the Halliburton name and be based in Dallas. It would have almost 100,000 employees. The World Russian President Yeltsin promised to fire three Cabinet ministers at the opening of a meeting to review the country's economic progress.