As part of his new businesslike approach , Medvedev hired Australian coach Bob Brett at the start of this year and the partnership is beginning to pay off .

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" At the beginning of the year we started from zero , " said Medvedev . "


Winning in Long Island ( last week ) was like winning for the first time . "

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While Medvedev 's 77-minute romp past Fleurian was rather ordinary , the fact that the two were playing each other was rather remarkable .

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In the original draw , Medvedev and Fleurian were slotted to play each other .


When controversy forced the draw to be done over -- against odds of 151-to-1 -- Medvedev and Fleurian drew each other a second time .

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" When I saw the new draw I did n't have to change my preparation , " Medvedev said . "

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I think it 's destined that it turned out for me . "


TENNIS - WEDNESDAY 'S RESULTS FROM THE U.S. OPEN .


Results of Wednesday 's matches in the U.S. Open Tennis Championships at the National Tennis Centre ( prefix number denotes seeding ) :

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15 - Gabriela Sabatini ( Argentina ) beat Ann Grossman ( U.S. ) 6-2 6 - 3

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Irina Spirlea ( Romania ) beat Maria Jose Gaidano ( Argentina ) 6-1 6-2

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8 - Lindsay Davenport ( U.S. ) beat Henrietta Nagyova ( Slovakia ) 6- 0 6-4

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Anne-Gaelle Sidot ( France ) beat Wang Shi-Ting ( Taiwan ) 6-4 3-6 6-3

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Sandrine Testud ( France ) beat Cristina Torrens-Valero ( Spain ) 6 - 2 6-1

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Andrei Medvedev ( Ukraine ) beat Jean-Philippe Fleurian ( France ) 6-2 6-0 6-1


David Nainkin ( South Africa ) beat 9 - Wayne Ferreira ( South Africa ) 6-4 6-4 2-6 7-5

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David Rikl ( Czech Republic ) beat Hicham Arazi ( Morocco ) 6-4 7-5 6-2

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Andrea Gaudenzi ( Italy ) beat Shuzo Matsuoka ( Japan ) 7-6 ( 7-4 ) 6 - 2 6-3

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Jonas Bjorkman ( Sweden ) beat Karol Kucera ( Slovakia ) 6-2 5-7 7- 6 ( 7-3 ) 7-5


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Amanda Coetzer ( South Africa ) beat Mariaan de Swardt ( South Africa ) 6-2 7-5

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Linda Wild ( U.S. ) beat Kristie Boogert ( Netherlands ) 5-7 6-3 6-3


Kimberly Po ( U.S. ) beat Kristina Brandi ( U.S. ) 6-1 6-4

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Helena Sukova ( Czech Republic ) beat Paola Suarez ( Argentina ) 6- 4 7-6 ( 7-2 )

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2 - Monica Seles ( U.S. ) beat Laurence Courtois ( Belgium ) by walkover ( knee injury )

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Dally Randriantefy ( Madagascar ) beat Jane Chi ( U.S. ) 6-3 6-1


Ines Gorrochategui ( Argentina ) beat Aleksandra Olsza ( Poland ) 6 - 1 6-1


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Sjeng Schalken ( Netherlands ) beat Gilbert Schaller ( Austria ) 6- 3 6-4 6-7 ( 6-8 ) 6-3


Michael Tebbutt ( Australia ) beat Richey Reneberg ( U.S. ) 3-6

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Paul Haarhuis ( Netherlands ) beat Michael Joyce ( U.S ) 6-7


Barbara Rittner ( Germany ) beat 13 - Brenda Schultz-McCarthy (

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Guy Forget ( France ) beat Grant Stafford ( South Africa ) 3-6 2-6 6-4 7-6 ( 7-2 ) 6-3

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Lisa Raymond ( U.S. ) beat Sarah Pitkowski ( France ) 6-2 6-0


Asa Carlsson ( Sweden ) beat Barbara Schett ( Austria ) 6-2 3-1 retired ( Thigh injury )

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BASEBALL - MAJOR LEAGUE STANDINGS AFTER TUESDAY 'S GAMES .


standings after games played on Tuesday ( tabulate under won ,


lost , winning percentage and games behind ) :


BASEBALL - MAJOR LEAGUE RESULTS TUESDAY .


Baseball games played on Tuesday ( home team in CAPS ) :


TENNIS - GRAF WORKS HARD FOR FIRST-ROUND WIN .


It was n't supposed to be this hard for defending champion Steffi Graf to win her opening match at the U.S. Open on Tuesday night .

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But the script that called for the usual first-round demolition by the top-ranked top seed was rewritten by 29th-ranked Indonesian Yayuk Basuki playing with nothing to lose abandon .

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Graf , of course , prevailed 6-3 7-6 , but not before some tense moments that even had the German superstar thinking the match was going three sets .

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" I won the second set , which I did n't think I would do , being down 5-2 and the chances she had at 6-5 , " Graf recalled .

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Several of the other women 's seeds eased into the second round with more typical Graf-like efficiency Tuesday .

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As afternoon turned to evening , fourth-seeded Spaniard Conchita Martinez took apart Romanian Ruxandra Dragomir in 58 minutes with the loss of just two games , one more than second seed Monica Seles , who opened the second-day programme by crushing American Anne Miller 6-0 6-1 .

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Third seed Arantxa Sanchez Vicario , the 1994 champion , and eighth-seeded Olympic gold medalist Lindsay Davenport dropped three game each en route to the second round .

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But the day was not without its seeded casualties on the women 's side .


Fifth-seed Iva Majoli of Croatia was picked off by Austrian Judith Wiesner and Wimbledon semifinalist Kimiko Date of Japan , the 10th seed , fell 6-2 7-5 to 53rd-ranked American Kimberly Po .

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Date 's defeat left no other seeded players in Seles 's quarter of the draw , which lost Anke Huber ( 6 ) and Maggie Maleeva ( 12 ) on Monday .

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But Graf , winner of 20 Grand Slam titles , was not about to join that list .

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" At some points I felt a little nervous , " she admitted . "


When it came down to the important points , I felt more confident . "


Basuki , a first-round loser here for the fifth consecutive year , was clearly going for winners , hitting the lines and running Graf around the court as she broke the top seed twice in the second set to grab that shocking 5-2 lead .

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Graf ran off the next three games to restore some semblance of order .


But Basuki , her long black ponytail flying as she raced for shots , held her serve and twice had set point on Graf 's serve at 6-5 before the German unleashed a forehand pass to force the tie-break .

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" I lost the moment , " lamented Basuki , who has reached the fourth round at Wimbledon four times and was a semifinalist in Montreal earlier this month .

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Still , the feisty Indonesian got off to a 3-0 lead in the tie-breaker before a pair of costly double faults gave Graf her chance to avoid a third set .

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" Usually in the first one or two matches , you want to find your rhythm and want to get into it , " said Graf , who won seven of the last eight points in the breaker .

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" To be in that situation today , a couple of times having to play well , get down and play point-by-point , definitely is a good start . "

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BASEBALL - SOSA HAS SURGERY , OUT UP TO SIX WEEKS .


Chicago Cubs right fielder Sammy Sosa underwent surgery on Monday to remove a fractured bone from his right hand and will miss four to six weeks , the club announced Tuesday .

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Sosa , a leading candidate for National League Most Valuable Player honours , was injured August 20th when he was hit by a Mark Hutton pitch in the first inning of an 8-1 victory over the Florida Marlins .

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The 27-year-old Sosa leads the league with 40 homers and is tied for 10th with 100 RBI .

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The loss of Sosa , who appeared in all 124 games this season , is a huge blow to the Cubs ' playoff hopes .

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SOCCER - MARCELO HAT-TRICK KEEPS PSV AT TOP OF DUTCH LEAGUE .


Brazilian striker Marcelo scored a hat-trick as PSV Eindhoven maintained their 100 percent record and stayed on top of the Dutch first division with a 3-1 win at Volendam on Wednesday .

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PSV 's main rivals for the title , defending champions Ajax Amsterdam , celebrated the novelty of having the roof of their new 51,000 seat stadium closed against the rain , with a 1-0 win over AZ Alkmaar .

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Ajax were missing six first-team players but Frank de Boer shot home the winner from a 20-metre free kick in the 30th minute of a dull game .

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Marcelo , signed in close season to replace compatriot Ronaldo who left to play for Barcelona , opened the PSV scoring in the 19th minute when he fired home after good work from Rene Eijkelkamp .

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The Brazilian found the mark again two minutes after halftime and again in the 56th minute before midfielder Pascal Jongsma scored a consolation goal for Volendam five minutes from time .

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Feyenoord Rotterdam suffered an early shock when they went 1-0 down after four minutes against de Graafschap Doetinchem .

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The equaliser came in the 73rd minute when Swedish international Henke Larsson scored from close range and 10 minutes later Jean-Paul van Gastel gave Feyenoord a 2-1 victory from the penalty spot .

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After three matches PSV lead the first division with nine points , three points clear of fifth-placed Ajax .

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SOCCER - ROBSON WINS FIRST TROPHY WITH BARCELONA .


Former England manager Bobby Robson enjoyed his first success in charge of Barcelona as his team weathered 90 minutes of non-stop Atletico Madrid pressure to win the Spanish Super Cup 6-5 on aggregate on Wednesday .

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Barcelona had won the first leg 5-2 but the second leg was a different story .


Atletico came within a whisker of taking the Cup on the away-goal rule but squandered several chances after going 3-1 ahead 15 minutes from the end .

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Juan Lopez gave Atletico the lead midway through the first half after Barcelona fullback Albert Ferrer and substitute goalkeeper Julen Lopetegui failed to clear a Milinko Pantic cross .

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Barcelona 's Hristo Stoichkov made his only significant contribution of the evening 10 minutes after halftime when Sergi Barjuan broke down the right to set up the fiery Bulgarian with a simple equaliser .

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But Atletico struck back almost immediately through new signing Juan Eduardo Esnaider and then Serbian set-piece specialist Pantic made it 3-1 with a superb free-kick in the 75th minute .

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Robson praised Atletico after the game , which was played in the Community of Madrid athletic stadium because of pitch problems at the Vicente Calderon ground .

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The venue of Atletico 's first league game , scheduled for Sunday , is still in doubt with the Real Madrid 's Santiago Bernabeu a distinct possibility .

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Summary of the Spanish Super Cup , second leg , played on Wednesday :

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Atletico Madrid 3 ( Juan Lopez 28th minute , Juan Esnaider 58th , Milinko Pantic 75th ) Barcelona 1 ( Hristo Stoichkov 55th ) .

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SOCCER - BARCELONA WIN SPANISH SUPER CUP .


Result of the Spanish Super Cup , second leg , played on Wednesday :


SOCCER - AJAX SIGN ARGENTINE STRIKER GABRICH .


Argentine striker Iwan Cesar Gabrich signed a five year contract with Dutch champions Ajax Amsterdam on Wednesday .

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The 24-year-old Gabrich , who signed for an undisclosed fee from the Argentine side Newell Old Boys , is set to join Dutch international Patrick Kluivert in the Ajax forward line .

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He is Ajax 's sixth new signing this year , joining midfielder Richard Witschge , defenders John Veldman and Mariano Juan and strikers Tijjani Babangida and Dani .

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SOCCER - PARMA , ROMA AND UDINESE OUT OF ITALIAN CUP .

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UEFA Cup hopefuls Parma and Roma , under new coaches this season , crashed out of the Italian Cup to second division opponents on Wednesday while league champions Milan could only draw 1-1 at humble Empoli .

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Wealthy Parma , now coached by the former Italian international Carlo Ancelotti , were without new striker Enrico Chiesa and went down 3-1 at serie B club Pescara in their second round clash .

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Pescara 's Ottavio Palladini shattered Parma with goals in the second and fourth minutes .

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Midfielder Marco Giampaolo made it 3-0 in the 38th minute and Parma 's Alessandro Melli pulled back a late goal six minutes from time .

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The second round was the entry point for the bulk of the serie A sides with the winners going through .

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The later stages of the cup are played over two legs .


Parma 's defeat was a repeat of last season 's fiasco when they lost their opening cup match 3-0 to Palermo .

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Roma , now coached by Argentine Carlos Bianchi and watched by Italian national coach Arrigo Sacchi , lost 3-1 to Cesena -- another repeat of last season when the Rome club also went out at the first hurdle .

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Udinese , with Germany 's Euro ' 96 hero Oliver Bierhoff in their lineup , completed the hat-trick of beaten serie A sides when they went under 2-1 to newly relegated Cremonese .

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Milan 's new Uruguayan coach Oscar Tabarez avoided the nightmare of defeat but faces a replay at home next Sunday .

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Cup holders Fiorentina easily beat Cosenza 3-1 while European Cup holders Juventus also cruised through with a 2-0 win at small southern club Fidelis Andria .

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Two other serie A sides lost at the weekend -- Piacenza and last year 's losing finalists Atalanta .

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Two cup matches could not be played on Wednesday due to argument over first round results .


Lecce 's 3-0 weekend defeat of Genoa was expected to be overturned by a sporting judge on Thursday after the home club fielded an ineligible player .

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That would set Genoa up for a second round match against local rivals Sampdoria .


Nocerina 's 4-3 defeat of Piacenza was also subject to a complaint , later removed , that forced their second round match against serie A newcomers Perugia to be delayed .

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SOCCER - BAYERN HIT FOUR TO TAKE BUNDESLIGA TOP SPOT .


Goals from Thomas Helmer and Juergen Klinsmann helped Bayern Munich to a 4-2 home win over Bayer Leverkusen on Wednesday and powered them to the top of the Bundesliga .

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The comfortable victory gave Bayern 10 points from their first four games , a point ahead of second-placed Stuttgart , who have a game in hand .

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Brazilian midfielder Paulo Sergio put Leverkusen ahead in the 25th minute but Alexander Zickler equalised just a minute later .

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A header from Helmer and an acrobatic strike from Klinsmann gave Bayern a two-goal cushion at halftime .

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But the pick of the 13-times champions ' goals came from Ruggiero Rizzitelli , who beat three defenders to put Bayern 4-1 up .

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Markus Feldhoff hit a consolation goal for Leverkusen .


Hansa Rostock brought Cologne 's 100 percent record to an end with a 2-0 win over the Rhineside club while a Sean Dundee hat-trick inside seven minutes stood out in Karlsruhe 's 4-0 demolition of St Pauli .

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SOCCER - ITALIAN CUP SECOND ROUND RESULTS .


SOCCER - GERMAN FIRST DIVISION SUMMARIES .


Bayern Munich 4 ( Zickler 26th , Helmer 37th , Klinsmann 44th ,

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Rizzitelli 48th ) Bayer Leverkusen 2 ( Sergio 25th , Feldhoff

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Cologne 0 Hansa Rostock 2 ( Akpoborie 5th and 59th ) .


Arminia Bielefeld 1 ( Von Heesen 56th ) Duisburg 1 ( Hirsch 65th ) .

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SOCCER - LEADING FRENCH LEAGUE SCORERS .


first division after Wednesday 's matches :


3 - Anton Drobnjak ( Bastia ) , Vladimir Smicer ( Lens ) , Miladin

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Becanovic ( Lille ) , Alain Caveglia ( Lyon ) , Xavier Gravelaine

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( Marseille ) , Robert Pires ( Metz ) , Thierry Henry ( Monaco )

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2 - Christopher Wreh ( Guingamp ) , Marc-Vivien Foe ( Lens ) , Enzo


Scifo ( Monaco ) , James Debbah ( Nice ) , Patrice Loko ( PSG ) ,

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SOCCER - SMICER 'S LAST-GASP GOAL KEEPS LENS IN THE LEAD .


Euro 96 star Vladimir Smicer of the Czech Republic scored at the last second for Lens , allowing them to retain the lead in the French soccer league on Wednesday .

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Smicer pushed the ball home in injury time to lead his team to a 3-2 victory over Montpellier , who were leading 2-1 until Cameroon 's Marc-Vivien Foe equalised on a header in the 85th minute .

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The win was the fourth in as many matches this season for Lens , who lead the table on 12 points .

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In-form Paris St Germain , who dismissed Nantes 1-0 , are second with 10 points .

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Along with Smicer , Robert Pires was the star of the night in France , scoring the first hat-trick of the league season in Metz 's 3-1 home victory over neighbouring Strasbourg .

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Pires , one of the most promising strikers in the country , was called up for the first time this week by French manager Aime Jacquet for a friendly against Mexico on Saturday at the Parc des Princes .

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Pires scored first with a powerful shot in the 35th minute before striking again from close range just before the break .

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A solitary raid allowed him to score his third in the 74th .


Smicer 's goal was as hard-won as his team 's victory .


Spurred by Foe 's leveller five minutes before , Lens pressed hard and Foe hit the crossbar in the dying seconds on another header .

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The ball bounced back to Smicer 's feet and he scored .


Montpellier seized an unexpected lead thanks to Kader Ferhaoui in the fourth minute after a blunder from Lens goalkeeper Jean-Claude Nadon .

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The side from northern France , forced to fight an uphill battle from then on , pulled level thanks to Tony Vairelles in the eighth minute but young striker Fabien Lefevre made it two for Montpellier five minutes later .

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League favourites PSG scored a convincing 1-0 win over Nantes and confirmed they would again be the team to beat this season .

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Ironically , PSG 's victory owed a lot to two former Nantes players , striker Patrice Loko , who scored on a brilliant shot in the 33rd minute , and defender Benoit Cauet , who started the one-two which allowed Loko to score .

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The Parisians , who have yet to concede a goal , were without Brazil 's Leonardo and Panama 's Julio Cesar Dely Valdes , both called up by their national sides .

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For Nantes , who shocked PSG to win the league crown two years ago , the fall is very painful .

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The Canaries , who lost most of their key players within two years , have yet to win a match this season .

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Reigning champions Auxerre had to settle for a goalless draw against Marseille on Tuesday .


SOCCER - DUTCH FIRST DIVISION SUMMARIES .


Willem II Tilburg 1 ( Van Hintum 69th penalty ) RKC Waalijk 2

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( Schreuder 39th , Van Arum 76th , 83rd ) .


Vitesse Arnhem 1 ( Vierklau 85th ) Sparta Rotterdam 1 ( Gerard

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Groningen 1 ( Gorre 66th ) Roda JC Kerkrade 1 ( Vurens 3rd )

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Feyenoord 2 ( Larsson 73rd , Van Gastel 83rd penalty ) Graafschap

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Volendam 1 ( Jongsma 85th ) PSV Eindhoven 3 ( Marcelo 19th , 47th ,

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Ajax Amsterdam 1 ( Frank de Boer 30th ) AZ Alkmaar 0 .

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Fortuna Sittard 2 ( Jeffrey 7th , Roest 33rd ) Heerenveen 4

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( Korneev 15th , Hansma 24th , Wouden 70th , 90th ) .


SOCCER - GERMAN FIRST DIVISION RESULTS / STANDINGS .


Standings ( tabulated under played , won , drawn , lost , goals


Le Havre 1 ( Samson 24th ) Caen 1 ( Etienne Mendy 4th ) .

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Lyon 2 ( Caveglia 23rd , Giuly 30th ) Nancy 0 .


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Nice 1 ( Chaouch 64th ) Guingamp 2 ( Rouxel 10th , Baret 89th ) .

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Paris St Germain 1 ( Loko 33rd ) Nantes 0 .

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Rennes 1 ( Guivarch 27th ) Bordeaux 1 ( Colleter 86th ) .

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division after Wednesday 's matches ( tabulate under played , won ,


drawn , lost , goals for , against , points ) :


ATHLETICS - CHRISTIE AND JOHNSON ASKED TO JOIN OWENS ' TRIBUTE .


Organisers hope to persuade Britain 's former Olympic 100 metres champion Linford Christie to join a " Dream Team " sprint relay in a special tribute to Jesse Owens at Friday 's Berlin grand prix .

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Christie , who is retiring from international competition at the end of the season , was not due to compete in the German capital but Berlin promoter Rudi Thiel said : " We are still hopeful of getting him to come . "

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Thiel has managed to get most of the Olympic 100 metres champions since 1948 to attend the meeting , which is being held in the stadium where Owens won four gold medals 60 years ago at the Berlin Olympics .

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Canada 's Donovan Bailey , the Olympic 100 metres champion and world record holder , and Namibian Frankie Fredericks , the silver medallist at the recent Atlanta Games , have already agreed to run in the 4X100 metres team .

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Thiel said on Wednesday that he had also asked Olympic 200 and 400 champion Michael Johnson to run as well as Christie .

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" Most of the Olympic champions of the past are coming including Britain 's ( 1980 champion ) Allan Wells .

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My minimum would be that he just ran the relay , " he said .


The 36-year-old Briton is still considering the offer and is expected to announce his decision later on Wednesday .

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Owens 's widow Ruth is not well enough to attend but a message from her will be read out during the meeting and one of the sprinter 's relatives is expected to attend .

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The relay race , which will include squads from Africa , the United States and Europe as well as the Owens ' quartet , will be held at the end of the meeting .

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Organisers had hoped to include 1984 and 1988 champion Carl Lewis in the squad but he injured himself in Brussels last Friday .

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CRICKET - NEW CAPTAIN TENDULKAR UPSTAGED BY 120 FROM JAYASURIYA .


Sachin Tendulkar marked his debut as Indian captain with a patient 110 on Wednesday , but was upstaged by dashing Sri Lankan opener Sanath Jayasuriya whose 120 steered the world champions to a nine-wicket Singer Cup win .

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Sri Lanka , playing in front of their home crowd for the first time since winning the World Cup last March , comfortably passed India 's modest 226-5 from 50 overs in 44.2 overs .

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The devastating opening pair of Jayasuriya and Romesh Kaluwitharana shared a fine first wicket stand of 129 to the delight of the 25,000 fans .

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Jayasuriya , whose first 50 included three sixes and three fours , went on to an unbeaten 120 and the man-of-the-match award .

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Kaluwitharana , slow in comparison , was bowled by Tendulkar for 53 , but Aravinda de Silva with 49 not out helped see Sri Lanka home .

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Earlier , Tendulkar completed his ninth century in one-day cricket , taking 138 balls to do it before being run out .

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The rest of the Indian batting was generally tied down by brilliant fielding and some fairly tight bowling , although ex-captain Mohamed Azharuddin chipped in with 58 , adding 129 with Tendulkar off 28 overs , before being stumped .

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The next match in the four-nation tournament is on Friday when Sri Lanka play Australia in a repeat of the World Cup final in Lahore where Sri Lanka won by seven wickets .

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CRICKET - SRI LANKA BEAT INDIA BY 9 WICKETS IN ONE-DAY MATCH .


Sri Lanka beat India by nine wickets in the second match of the Singer World Series one-day ( 50 overs ) cricket tournament on Monday .

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Scores : India 226-5 in 50 overs , Sri Lanka 230-1 in 44.2 overs .

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CRICKET - INDIA V SRI LANKA SCOREBOARD .


World Series cricket match between India and Sri Lanka on

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M. Azharuddin st Kaluwitharana b Jayasuriya 58


Did not bat : A. Kumble , N. Mongia , V. Prasad , A. Kapoor .

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Bowling : Vass 9-2-35-0 , Pushpakumara 6-0-23-0 , Dharmasena


10-0-59-1 Muralitharan 10-0-42-0 , Jayasuriya 10-1-39-1 , de Silva


Total ( for one wicket - 44.2 overs ) 230


Did not bat : Arjuna Ranatunga , Asanka Gurusinha , Hashan

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Tillekeratne , Roshan Mahanama , Kumara Dharmasena , Chaminda Vaas ,

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Muthiah Muralitharan , Ravindra Pushpakumara


Bowling : Kumble 10-1-40-0 , Prasad 6-0-47-0 , Srinath


CRICKET - INDIA WIN TOSS AND BAT AGAINST SRI LANKA .


India won the toss and elected to bat against Sri Lanka in the second day-night limited overs cricket match of the Singer World Series tournament on Wednesday .

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India - Sachin Tendulkar ( captain ) , Anil Kumble , Ajay Jadeja , Sourav Ganguly , Mohamed Azharuddin , Vinod Kambli , Rahul Dravid , Nayan Mongia , Javagal Srinath , Venkatesh Prasad , Ashish Kapoor .

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Sri Lanka - Arjuna Ranatunga ( captain ) , Sanath Jayasuriya , Romesh Kaluwitharana , Asanka Gurusinha , Aravinda de Silva , Hashan Tillekeratne , Roshan Mahanama , Kumara Dharmasena , Chaminda Vaas , Muthiah Muralitharan , Ravindra Pushpakumara .

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These are the leading stories in the Angolan press on Wednesday .


Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy .


- Princeton Lyman , the U.S. Under-Secretary of State for International Organisations , will on Wednesday continue his work in Angola visiting Bailundo , where he should be received by Jonas Savimbi , leader of Unita .

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On Tuesday Lyman participated in a meeting of a joint-commission where he considered that the Angolan politicians should advance faster and find a way to cooperate .

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In his opinion the quartering of Unita forces must be concluded in all the Angolan territory and the troops must be selected and integrated in the armed forces , the government forces must be concentrated in the principal units and the free circulation of people and goods must be reality in all the country .

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S.AFRICAN TRUTH BODY TO SUMMON APARTHEID POLICE .


South Africa 's Truth and Reconciliation Commission said on Wednesday it would subpoena persons accused of human rights violations to appear before it .

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" We can subpoena anyone we want to , even the president of the country , " spokesman John Allen told Reuters . "

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Subpoenas are due to be served on a number of people this week . "


Media reports have speculated that the commission , which is trying to heal the wounds of apartheid by confronting the past , could subpoena apartheid-era President P.W. Botha and former police generals Basie Smit and Johan Van Der Merwe .

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In submissions last week to the commission National Party leader and former president F.W. De Klerk said he had received no co-operation from Botha in compiling his party 's report .

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Since it began work in April the commission has been hearing harrowing tales from the victims of apartheid-era abuses , by both the white minority regime and its opponents .

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It also wants to hear from those who committed the abuses , to whom it can offer amnesty in return for frankness .

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Hopes that reformed perpetrators would come forward voluntarily have faded but the commission has the legal power to force them to appear .


Allen declined to give say who would be subpoenaed .


" At the moment we have a preliminary list of less than 10 people , but this is just the beginning , " he said .

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The commission was set up last year to probe 30 years of human-rights violations during the apartheid era .


It is chaired by Nobel Peace winner , retired Archbishop Desmond Tutu .

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Allen said the commission could announce the names of subpoenaed persons on Monday next week .


TURKISH AIRPLANE LANDS IN SOFIA ON BOMB THREAT .


A Turkish airliner on flight from Istanbul to Vienna on Wednesday landed in emergency at Sofia airport after receiving a bomb threat , said an airport official .

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" The plane landed at Sofia airport at 1503 ( 1203 GMT ) after receiving a signal that there is an explosive on board , " the official , who declined to be named told Reuters .

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The plane , surrounded by 11 fire-engines , is being checked for explosives at the moment .


Nothing has been found so far , added the official .


In March a Turkish Cypriot airliner hijacked while on a flight from northern Cyprus to Istanbul landed in Sofia airport to refuel before landing in Munich , where the hijacker was arrested .

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Arch Alberta well tests 1,100 bbl / day .


Arch Petroleum Inc said Wednesday an exploratory well in Alberta 's Morinville area tested in excess of 1,100 barrels daily and will begin production immediately .

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The company said the 90 percent owned Trax et al Morinville 10-23 logged 28 feet of productive Leduc Reef at 5,350 feet .

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Reserve estimates from this well are at 250,000 gross barrels of oil .


The Trax well is one of the prospects developed by Arch through its early 1996 purchase of Trax Petroleums Ltd , the company said .

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It said another , the Cometra et al Morinville 11-13 , has logged 128 feet of productive Leduc Reef at 5,400 feet and is flowing water free at the rate of 590 barrels of oil per day on a 15 / 64ths-inch choke .

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Arch owns a 16 percent working interest in this well with most of the rest held by the privately owned operator .

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Arch said full production has begun and initial estimates of gross reserves attributable to this well range up to one million barrels of oil .

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A third well drilled in this area , the Trax et al Morinville 2-25 , encountered the Leduc Reef but tested wet .

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At the company 's Nordegg prospect , the Apache et al Saunders 14-28 , has reached total depth in the Leduc Reef at approximately 3,800 feet and has been abandoned , Arch said .

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It said this acreage earning well brought an interest in an additional 5,120 acres , building the company 's gross land position in this area to 8,320 acres .

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At the Butte prospect , the Garrington 4-8 has reached total depth of 11,500 and has logged 278 feet of Leduc Reef .

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Testing has begun and results will be announced within the next several days , Arch said .


Including the costs of the two abandoned wells , the company said , these first prospects have added to reserves at a finding cost of about U.S. $ 2 per barrel of oil equivalent .

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U.S. judge orders Biogen , Berlex officials deposed .


In order to help him decide whether he should hear the case , a U.S. District Court judge Wednesday ordered the legal counsels of Biogen Inc and Berlex Laboratories , a subsidiary of Schering AG , deposed .

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The tempest beyond the test tube involves allegations that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration violated the Orphan Drug law by allowing Biogen the right to sell its multiple sclerosis drug Avonex .

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Berlex also charges that Avonex is so similar to its MS drug , Betaseron , that it is a patent infringement .

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One analyst said sales of Avonex had already cut into Betaseron market share .


BioVest Research , Inc 's analyst Eddie Hedaya said , " Berlex sales are losing share like mad ...

B-ORG I-ORG I-ORG I-ORG O O B-PER I-PER O O O B-ORG O O O O O O O


my understanding of the marketplace is that they 're below expectations . "


He added Chiron Corp reported its sales of inventory to Berlex was down .


Chiron makes Betaseron ; Berlex markets it , he said .


Biogen , in its Securities and Exchange Commission quarterly report for the period ending June 30 , said it had earned $ 6.1 million from Avonex sales during the drugs first six weeks on the market .

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When it approved Avonex in May , the FDA said both Biogen 's product and Betaseron were developed under the incentives of the Ophran Drug Act which provides seven years of marketing exclusivity for products that treat rare diseases .

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Avonex " has been allowed to enter the market because it differs from interferon beta-1b ( Betaseron ) ..

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Now , U.S. District Judge Mark Wolf has ordered the chief counsel for Biogen , Michael Astrue , and Robert Chabora , his counterpart at Berlex be deposed about a May 21 meeting the two men attended to help him determine whether the lawsuit filed by Biogen against Berlex should be heard in Massachusetts .

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Berlex filed a lawsuit against Biogen in U.S. District Court in Newark , N.J. in July , but Biogen had already filed a suit against Berlex in Massachusetts in May .

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Wolf ordered the depositions to determine if he or U.S. District Judge John Bissell of Newark should preside over the case .

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U.S. Treasury balances at Fed rose on Aug 27 .


U.S. Treasury balances at Federal Reserve based on Treasury Department 's latest budget statement .

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COMEX copper ends higher after late recovery .


COMEX copper ended higher after a late , modest recovery dragged the market from the lows , but traders shrugged-off an imminent strike at Codelco 's Salvador mine in Chile .

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The market was also waiting for Friday 's LME stock report which will include figures delayed from Tuesday because of the U.K. public holiday on Monday when the LME was closed .

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" We are in the late stages of the weaker period of the market , and as we get to the post Labor Day market we will start to see more consumer interest and the demand side of the market will start to firm prices up , " said William O'Neill of Merrill Lynch .

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December COMEX settled 0.35 cent higher at 90.20 cents , traded 90.50 to 89.40 cents .


September went out 0.05 cent lower at 91.05 .


The August contract expired at 0.85 cent down at 90.85 cents .


Workers at Salvador voted to strike from Saturday , and it was not clear when further talks between the unions and management would take place .

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" Salvador is a small facility , and the prospects are that if there will be a strike , it will not be a long strike , " O'Neill said .

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-- Huw Jones , New York Commodities 212-859-1646


U.S. copper service center shipments stable - CBSA .


Average daily shipments from U.S. copper service centers in July fell three percent from the previous month , but were higher than in July 1995 , the Copper and Brass Servicenter Association reported .

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" July was still above the historic average for that month , " the CBSA said .


In the first seven months of 1996 , shipments of copper sheet , coil and strip were 2.2 percent ahead of the same period last year .

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Alloy shipments , however , were 7.5 percent down .


" Several service centers indicated that while their volume of orders remains constant , the size-per-order continues to be smaller than what was realised during the first five months of the year , " the CBSA said .

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Service centers continued to lower their inventories in July when total copper stocks were off two percent and alloy products down 1.9 percent .

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Chile 's ENAP buys Oriente , Escravos crude for Oct .


Chile 's state oil company Empresa Nacional del Petroleo ( ENAP ) bought a second spot cargo of Oriente and nearly one million barrels of Escravos in a recent tender , traders said Wednesday .

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A 400,000 barrel cargo of Ecuadorian Oriente and 960,000 barrels of Nigerian Escravos was awarded in a tender for Oct 15-18 late last week , but price information remains vague .

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" The Oriente will be supplied by the same seller at a small premium to formula , " a trade source said , referring to the first October cargo sold two weeks ago at Petroecuador 's sale formula plus five cents fob .

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Escravos was sold on a Dated Brent related basis , with premiums for the light grade seen in the low 50-cent range .

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The next purchase tender from ENAP is expected for late October or early November crude , traders said .

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Reuters historical calendar - September 4 .


Following are some of the major events to have occurred on September 4 in history .


1241 - Alexander III , King of Scotland , born .


King from 1249-1286 , he consolidated royal power , leaving Scotland united and independent .


1260 - The Ghibellines retook the city of Florence from the Florentine Guelfs at the battle of Monte Aperto .

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1768 - Francois-Rene ( Vicomte de ) Chateaubriand born .

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He was a politician , one of the first French romantic writers and ambassador to the British court .

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He wrote " Rene " , a seminal work in the French romantic movement and a famous autobiography " Memoires d'Outre Tombe " .

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1781 - Los Angeles was founded by Spanish settlers and named " El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora La Reina de Los Angeles " ( The Town of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels ) .

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Austrian composer and organist , he wrote nine symphonies on a huge scale and three grand masses in the romantic tradition .

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1870 - In France , the Second Empire was ended and Napoleon III was deposed after his surrender two days earlier in the Franco-Prussian war .

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1886 - At Skeleton Canyon in Arizona , Geronimo , Apache chief and leader of the last great Red Indian rebellion finally surrendered to General Nelson Miles .

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1892 - Prolific French modernist composer Darius Milhaud born .


He wrote a jazz ballet " La Creation du Monde " and scores for many films including an early version of " Madame Bovary " .

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1906 - German-born U.S. biologist Max Delbruck born .


Winner of the 1969 Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine for work on the genetic structure of viruses that infect bacteria .

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1907 - Edvard Grieg , Norwegian composer best known for his " Peer Gynt Suite " and his Piano Concerto , died in Bergen .

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1908 - U.S. film director Edward Dmytryk born .


Best known for his films " Crossfire " - one of Hollywood 's first attempts to deal with racial discrimination and " Farewell My lovely " .

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1909 - The world 's first Boy Scout Rally was held at Crystal Palace near London .

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1944 - Brussels and Antwerp in Belgium were liberated by British and Canadian troops in World War Two .

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1948 - Wilhelmina , Queen of the Netherlands from 1890 and throughout World Wars One and Two abdicated in favour of her daughter Juliana .

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1963 - Robert Schuman , French statesman , Prime Minister 1947-48 and Foreign Minister 1948-52 , died .

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He was responsible for the establishment of the European Coal and Steel Community .

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1964 - The Forth Road Bridge in Scotland , measuring 6156 ft , and with a centre span of 3300 ft , was opened by Her Majesty the Queen .

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1965 - Albert Schweitzer , theologian , philosopher and organist died in Gabon where he had set up a hospital in 1913 .

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Acclaimed for his interpretations of J.S. Bach 's works , he also won the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts on behalf of the " Brotherhood of Nations " in 1952 .

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1972 - At the Olympic Games , U.S. swimmer Mark Spitz won his seventh gold medal , a record for a single Olympiad .

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1974 - East Germany and the United States established formal diplomatic relations for the first time .

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1977 - E.F. ( Fritz ) Schumacher , economic guru and author of the best seller " Small is Beautiful " , died on his way to a conference in Switzerland .

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1989 - Georges Simenon , writer of 84 books based on the detective character Inspector Maigret , died .

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1992 - Bulgaria 's former Communist leader Todor Zhivkov , deposed in 1989 , was sentenced to seven years in prison after being found guilty of embezzling state funds .

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1995 - Declaring " united Jerusalem is ours " , Israel launched a 15-month celebration of the 3,000th anniversary of King David 's proclamation of the city as the capital of the Jewish people .

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1995 - The Fourth World Conference on Women , the biggest U.N. gathering in history , began in China 's Great Hall of the People with a U.N. declaration that sexual equality was the last great project of the 20th century .

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UK lowers noise limits for three London airports .


The British government on Wednesday lowered the noise limits for London 's Heathrow , Gatwick and Stansted airports and announced it would make a bigger effort in detecting and fining violators .

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The limits , effective from January 1 , 1997 , are reduced as much as possible while still complying with international obligations , a spokesman for the Department of Transport said .

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The maximum noise level during the day is trimmed by three decibels to 94 , while the night time level is reduced by two decibels to 87 .

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" It is a smaller reduction in terms of loudness than was sought by local people .


Nevertheless I am satisfied that the overall benefits will be worthwile , " Lord Goschen , minister for aviation , said in a statement .

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The ministry said it believed the new limits could be met with existing aircraft . "


They can be flown in quieter ways , " a spokesman said .


The reduction in noise levels is the same as proposed in a consultation paper which was published in October 1995 .

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The present noise levels have applied at Heathrow , one of the world 's busiest airports , since 1959 and at Gatwick since 1968 .

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The number of monitors will be increased and some will be repositioned to detect noisy planes .


Tennis - Philippoussis beats Woodforde in U.S. Open .


Mark Philippoussis beat fellow Australian Mark Woodforde 6-7 ( 6-8 ) 6-3 6-3 6-3 in a men 's singles first round match at the U.S. Open on Tuesday .

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The two Davis Cup team-mates were pitted against each other after last week 's controversial redraw of the men 's singles competition .

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Philippoussis is on course for a third round meeting with world number one Pete Sampras of the United States , whom he beat at the Australian Open last January .

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Rugby union-England given final chance to stay in Five Nations .


England have been given a final chance to remain in the Five Nations ' championship despite striking an exclusive television deal with Rupert Murdoch 's Sky television .

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In a statement on Wednesday , the Four Nations TV Committee said dates had been set for a competition involving Scotland , Wales , Ireland and France next year .

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" Between now and then , discussions will take place in one final attempt to persuade the Rugby Football Union to save the Five Nations ' championship in its current form , " the statement said .

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No further details were immediately available .


England infuriated their championship colleagues when they decided to sign a 87.5 million pounds sterling ( $ 135.8 million ) deal giving Sky television exclusive rights to rugby union matches in England .

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The present contract with the British Broadcasting Corporation was shared between the four home nations while France have their own television deal .

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Last month Five Nations ' committee chairman Tom Kiernan said England would be thrown out of the competition " unless circumstances change in the near future " .

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Cricket - NZ face tough schedule at home and abroad .


World Cup cricket champions Sri Lanka will play two tests and three one-day internationals in a tour of New Zealand next March , officials said on Wednesday .

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New Zealand Cricket said the Sri Lankans would play tests in Hamilton and Wellington and one-dayers in Auckland , Christchurch and Dunedin , following hard on the heels of a tour by England .

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New Zealand will also line up against Sri Lanka and Pakistan this November in a one-day champions trophy competition in Sharjah .

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The team will go one to tour Pakistan , playing two tests and three one-day internationals .


Soccer - Burundi disqualification from African Cup confirmed .


The African Football Confederation ( CAF ) on Wednesday formally confirmed Burundi 's disqualification from the African Nations Cup following the team 's inability to travel for a qualifier against Central African Republic .

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The Burundi team were unable to leave their troubled country for a preliminary round first leg match in Bangui earlier this month because of an air ban imposed in a recent set of internationally-sponsored sanctions .

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The Central African Republic qualified on a walkover to play in group four with Guinea , Sierra Leone and Tunisia .

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" After examining the dossier of the Burundi-Central Africa match , we decided ...


to disqualify the national team of Burundi from the 21st African Cup of Nations ...

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as a result of the absence of this team from the match , " CAF said in a statement .

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Cricket - India 226-5 in 50 overs v Sri Lanka .


India scored 226 for five wickets in their 50 overs against Sri Lanka in the second day-night limited overs match of the Singer World Series tournament on Wednesday .

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Canada fast-tracks Chinese asylum-seekers - report .


Canada is fast-tracking immigration applications from Chinese dissidents in Hong Kong before the British colony reverts to China 's control next year , the Vancouver Sun reported on Wednesday .

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The applications are being " fast-tracked in the sense that we are processing them and the ones who have been referred to us have been interviewed , " the newspaper quoted Garrett Lambert , Canada 's high commissioner in Hong Kong , as saying .

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" A small number already have preliminary indications as to what the disposition of their cases are and so I suppose in that sense , I guess we have given them some preferential treatment , " Lambert said .

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He declined to say how many people were being considered for asylum .


Canada 's ministry of foreign affairs in Ottawa had no immediate comment on the report .


About 80 Chinese dissidents are believed to be living in exile in Hong Kong .

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Their fate after the territory reverts to Chinese rule is unclear .


Britain hands Hong Kong back to China at midnight on June 30 , 1997 , after 150 years of colonial rule .

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Canada 's Minister of Foreign Affairs Lloyd Axworthy said after meeting Hong Kong Gov .

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Chris Patten last month that Canada may grant asylum to dissidents who have fled to Hong Kong from China .

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Chinese officials have said such dissidents may not become Hong Kong permanent residents since they entered the territory illegally but have also said their status would be decided by the post-1997 local Hong Kong administration .

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Ivorian journalist held , asked to reveal source .


An Ivorian journalist spent a third day in custody on Wednesday and investigators were demanding that he reveal the source of an official document published in his newspaper , colleagues said .

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Raphael Lapke , publication director of Ivorian newspaper Le Populaire , was taken in for questioning on Monday over an article about the public prosecutor and has been detained since then .

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Colleagues said he had been charged with theft of administrative documents . "


He is being asked for the source of his information and who gave him this confidential document , " one colleague told Reuters .

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Three journalists from the Ivorian opposition daily La Voie are serving two-year prison terms for insulting President Henri Konan Bedie .

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A court sentenced two in December and the third in January .


La Voie published an article suggesting the presence of Bedie had brought local team ASEC bad luck during their defeat by Orlando Pirates of South Africa in the final of the African Champions Cup in December .

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The United States embassy in Abidjan and international press organisations denounced the sentences as excessive .

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Last year , Bedie pardoned four journalists jailed for the same or similar offences .


They included one of the three La Voie journalists .


Bedie pardoned two other journalists jailed for incitement to disturb public order .


Village attack kills 38 in eastern Sierra Leone .


Sierra Leonean rebels killed 31 villagers and seven soldiers in an attack on the eastern village of Foindu , Eastern Region Brigade Commander Major Fallah Sewa said on Wednesday .

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Sewa said the rebels overran Foindu despite the presence of government troops in the village on the highway between Mano Junction and the diamond town of Tongo Field .

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An army spokesman in Freetown said Monday night 's attack was the third on a military post in the past week .

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Rebels of the Revolutionary United Front agreed a ceasefire in April .


Continuing attacks are generally ascribed to renegade soldiers or uncontrolled bands of rebels and refugees displaced by the fighting starting to return to their homes .

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Peace talks in Ivory Coast began in February .


Diplomats say they are deadlocked over the RUF 's insistence that foreign troops helping the government army should leave , and that they should have some say in the allocation of budget spending .

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Aid agency says Sudan missionaries released .


An aid agency said six Roman Catholic missionaries , including three Australian nuns , were freed by rebels in southern Sudan on Wednesday after being held for nearly two weeks .

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But Catholic church officials said they had no confirmation of the report and would have to wait until Thursday to be sure .

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Zambia 's Chiluba shuffles cabinet to fill vacancy .


Zambian President Frederick Chiluba shuffled his cabinet on Wednesday to fill a vacancy left after the sacking of Legal Affairs Minister Remmy Mushota .

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Mushota was fired a month ago after a government tribunal found he tried to withdraw cash from state coffers without authority .

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The president 's office said in a statement that Lands Minister Luminzu Shimaponda had been appointed Legal Affairs Minister , while Deputy Foreign Minister Peter Machungwa would take over from Shimaponda .

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Guinea launches war on fictitious civil servants .


Guinea launched a drive on Wednesday to rid the civil service payroll of fictitious workers as part of new prime minister Sidia Toure 's campaign to cut government spending .

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Deputy Minister for Finance Ousmane Kaba said teams of inspectors would check government offices in the capital and the provinces to root out civil servants who drew salaries but had left their jobs , were dead , or had never existed .

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Some 50 million Guinean francs ( $ 50,000 ) has been pumped into the exercise to deter the inspectors from taking bribes .

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Kaba told reporters the annual wage bill of 171 billion Guinean francs represented 50 percent of current state expenditure , " whereas the acceptable proportion in countries similar to ours is one third " .

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Toure , who took office last month , has said he plans to cut public service spending by 30 percent by the end of the year as part of measures to revive the economy .

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Guinea is rich in minerals and has a vast potential for hydroelectric power generation but it faces stiff competition from its West African neighbours for foreign investment .

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President Lansana Conte appointed Toure , a former senior civil servant in Ivory Coast , last month to clean up the administration and reform the economy following February 's bloody army revolt .

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New Liberia Council chief to be installed Tuesday .


Ruth Perry , the woman with the task of uniting Liberia 's squabbling factions around the latest peace plan , will be formally installed as head of the ruling State Council next Tuesday , a Council statement said .

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Perry , a Liberian Senate member during the 1980s , returned to Monrovia on August 22 after West African leaders nominated her for the job under a peace deal signed in Nigeria 's capital Abuja five days earlier .

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The formal inauguration had been due to take place this week but was put back .


There was no official explanation but politicians said faction leaders and State Council vice-chairmen Charles Taylor and Alhadji Kromah were unable to attend because they were travelling .

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Liberia 's civil war , launched by Taylor in 1989 , has killed well over 150,000 people .

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Faction fighting and an orgy of looting in the capital Monrovia in April and May killed hundreds of people .

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Over a dozen peace deals have collapsed .


The latest sets a timetable for disarmament by the end of January and elections by May 30 .


West African leaders have threatened individual sanctions against faction leaders to ensure compliance .


Freed American slaves founded Liberia in 1847 .


Nigeria rights group says four academics arrested .


A Nigerian human rights group said on Wednesday that four members of a recently banned university union had been arrested .

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" The Constitutional Rights Project ( CRP ) believes that William Istafanus , Elisha Shamay , O.K. Likkason and Jerome Egurugbe were arrested because of their role in the ongoing ASUU ( Academic Staff Union of Universities ) strike , " the group said in a statement .

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The CRP said the four were arrested on Monday night at the northeastern Tafawa Balewa University .

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The main academic union , ASUU , along with two smaller university unions , was banned by Nigeria 's military government last week , because of a four-month strike by teachers for better working conditions .

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Nigeria is under fire from many Western countries for human rights abuses and lack of democracy .

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Dozens of people opposed to the government are in detention .


Commonwealth foreign ministers are to meet in London on Wednesday to discuss what action to take , after a visit to Nigeria was called off when the government imposed strict rules on whom the mission would be allowed to see .

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Nigeria was suspended from the club of Britain and its former colonies in November after the hanging of nine minority rights activists for murder in spite of international pleas for clemency .

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Dutroux suspected in murder of Slovak woman .


Marc Dutroux , the chief accused in a Belgian child murder and sex abuse scandal , is suspected of murdering a young Slovak woman , the Slovak office of Interpol said on Wednesday .

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Rudolf Gajdos , head of Slovak Interpol , told a news conference Dutroux was also believed to have planned the kidnapping of at least one Slovak woman .

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" One of the police versions in the case of the murder of young gypsy woman in Topolcany , western Slovakia , this July , is a suspicion that Mark Dutroux could have been involved in the murder , " Gajdos said without elaborating on the age of the victim and on the other versions .

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Slovak police , Interpol , and Belgian police have been following leads on Dutroux 's activities in Slovakia and the neighbouring Czech Republic where he is known to have made frequent visits .

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Gajdos said the police sketch of the suspected murderer was " 60 percent identical with Dutroux 's portrait " , and that Dutroux was known to have been in Topolcany around the time of the woman 's murder .

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" Topolcany and the area around this town were reported to have been the most visited places by Dutroux and his accomplices in Slovakia , " Gajdos said .

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Dutroux , a convicted child rapist and unemployed father-of-three , led police 11 days ago to the bodies of eight-year-olds Julie Lejeune and Melissa Russo in the garden of another of the six houses he owns around the southern Belgian city of Charleroi .

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" The Belgian police also informed us that Dutroux , together with one other man , had ( also ) planned the kidnapping of at least one Slovak woman , " Gajdos said .

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" The plan apparently failed due to difficulties in crossing the border , " he added , but did not elaborate .

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The Slovak police are also investigating visits by about 10 Slovak women , aged 17 to 22 , to Belgium , at the invitation of Dutroux .

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The women said they went to Belgium voluntarily and police suspect they were used to act in pornographic films , Gajdos said earlier this week .

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But he added they had difficulty remembering what happened during their visits to Belgium , perhaps because of drugs , and were unsure whether they were filmed for pornography .

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Dutroux , 39 , who was charged last week with the abduction and illegal imprisonment of two girls aged 14 and 12 , is also suspected in the disappearance of Belgians An Marchal , 19 , and Eefje Lambrecks , 17 , who went missing a year ago .

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Knifeman kills Polish beauty queen , wounds husband .


A man knifed to death international model Agnieszka Kotlarska outside her home in Wroclaw , western Poland , Polish television said on Wednesday .

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The man , who said he had once been engaged to her , first knifed Kotlarska 's husband in the leg , then stabbed her three times in the chest when she tried to intervene during the incident on Tuesday .

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Kotlarska , who was 24 and had a three-year-old child , was Miss Poland in 1991 and went on to a U.S.-based modelling career that included working with Italian designer Gianni Versace and Vogue magazine , the Gazeta Wyborcza newspaper said .

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She had been due to fly on a TWA airliner which exploded near New York last month , but had cancelled her booking , the newspaper said .

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Her attacker , identified only as Jerzy L. , 36 , was arrested by police and will appear in court on Thursday morning , television reported .

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It said he had admitted the attack but had denied intending to kill Kotlarska .


Leading Russian shares edged down on Wednesday in thin volume in the absence of Western orders , traders said .

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The Russian Trading System index of 21 issues fell 1.64 percent to 180.38 on volume of $ 4.38 million .

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" The market was extremely quiet today , some profit-taking locally , no Western orders , " said Nick Mokhoff , director of sales and trade at Alliance-Menatep . "

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We are just a bit lower with a lot of inactivity during the whole day . "


Alexander Babayan , managing director at CentrInvest Securities , said the volume of orders was four to five times lower than a week ago .

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" Unified is one of the blue chips , which has more prospects than anybody else does , because they have ADRs supposedly coming up , " Mokhoff said .

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UES officials said last week the board had not yet approved the final version of its application to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to issue ADRs .

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UES fell to $ 0.0817 from $ 0.0822 at Tuesday 's close with 8.90 million shares changing hands .

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Gazprom was the loser of the day with prices closing at $ 0.300 , down from $ 0.355 on Tuesday and $ 0.445 on Monday .

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Mokhoff said uncertainty about when Gazprom would issue ADRs and about whether shares from the Russian market could be converted into ADRs had hurt prices .

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" Western investors ... will be investing in ADRs and I do not think people in Russia will be able to come up with the money for the underlying shares to drive the Russian shares to those levels , " Mokhoff said .

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Gazprom has also tightened the rules restricting shareholers ' rights to trade its shares .


Mosenergo closed at at $ 0.958 after $ 0.966 , Rostelekom fell to $ 2.56 from $ 2.58 and LUKoil was $ 9.82 after $ 9.85 .

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-- Julie Tolkacheva , Moscow Newsroom , +7095 941 8520


Albania asks Greece to explain deportations .


Albania asked Greece on Wednesday to explain why it was deporting more Albanian immigrants , Foreign Minister Tritan Shehu said .

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The Albanian daily Koha Jone reported earlier that Greece had deported about 5,000 Albanians in the last five days .

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" The Foreign Ministry is trying to find out from the Greek embassy why Albanian refugees have been deported from Greece , " Shehu told Reuters .

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Athens and Tirana signed an accord in May to legalise the status of Albanian immigrant workers , estimated at 350,000 , and remove a long-standing stumbling block in relations between the two Balkan neighbours .

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Bulgarians recover 75 pct of confiscated land .


Bulgaria has restored ownership rights to pre-communist private owners of 75 percent of the arable land or around four million hectares , an Agriculture Ministry official said on Wednesday .

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" So far 75 percent has been returned with the land restitution almost completed in some regions like Southeastern Bulgaria but lagging behind in other areas , predominantly in the mountains , " the official told a news conference .

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The ministry has said that it planned to return 96.6 percent of the arable land or 5.2 million hectares to its original owners by the end of this year .

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A land reform act passed four years ago abolished Soviet-style collective farms , allowing the return of 5.4 million hectares to original owners or their heirs .

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German chancellor to meet Yeltsin Sept 7 - Interfax .


German Chancellor Helmut Kohl , who spoke to President Boris Yeltsin by telephone on Wednesday , plans a trip to Moscow on September 7 and will visit Yeltsin at his vacation home near Moscow , Interfax news agency said .

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Interfax , quoting Yeltsin press secretary Sergei Yastrzhembsky , said Yeltsin and Kohl had discussed bilateral relations and international issues on the telephone .

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Yeltsin had told Kohl about efforts to find a political solution to the conflict in Russia 's breakaway Chechnya region , Interfax added .

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Yeltsin , who left on vacation on Monday , is staying at an exclusive private hunting lodge some 100 km ( 60 miles ) from Moscow .

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Germany has been one of the loudest critics of Russia 's military intervention in Chechnya , a 20-month-old conflict in which tens of thousands of people have been killed .

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Exiled Bosnians protest confusing voting rules .


Bosnian refugees in Hungary , the first to vote last weekend in their country 's first post-war election , found the rules confusing and some had no idea who they voted for , refugees and officials said on Wednesday .

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" For the most part they really did n't understand what was going on , " the director of the Nagyatad camp Lajos Horvath told Reuters on Wednesday .

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" It was confusing , they had no experience of voting , many of the refugees are only semi-literate and none of them knew anything about the candidates , " he said .

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" They just voted along ethnic lines where they could . "


The Bosnian election is set for September 14 and voting began on Wednesday for most of the 600,000 Bosnians living abroad .

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The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe , which is running the election , allowed the ballot to be held on Sunday in four Hungarian refugee camps .

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Some Moslem refugees among the 385 registered voters Hungary 's largest camp Nagyatad have written to the OSCE complaining that they were unable to vote in contests for the president or assembly of the Bosnian-Croat Federation , where most Moslems live .

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This was because their pre-war homes are now in the Serb-controlled territory , so they were voting for the national assembly of the Republika Srbska , most of the candidates for which are Serbs .

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For the foreign powers which back last year 's Dayton peace agreement , the main point of the election rules is that by voting as though they were still in their pre-war homes , Bosnians should override the effects of ethnic cleansing and reassert the concept of a single multi-ethnic state .

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But Adem Hodzic , one of the refugees who signed the letter of complaint , told Reuters :

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" We only realised after voting that we were being denied the rights of other Bosnian Moslems to choose our president .

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This vote seals the division of my country . "


Under the election rules citizens vote for a three-man presidency and House of Representatives for all Bosnia-Hercegovina and for assemblies and cantonal seats in either the Moslem-Croat Federation or the Republika Srbska .

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On Sunday voters in Hungary also cast ballots for municipal councils but these will be invalidated following the cancellation of local elections by the OSCE on Tuesday .

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Husein Micijevic , who also signed the letter , alleged that elderly voters were directed who to vote for by Hungarian translators who stood in the polling booth to help them .

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" Probably 100 refugees were shown where to put their cross , " he said .


Seventy eight-year-old Mandolina Zelic , a Bosnian Croat who has spent the last five years in Nagyatad , told Reuters she had cast her ballot because she 'd been told to by the camp authorities but had no idea who she voted for .

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" At first the organisers would n't let anyone help me but when they saw I did n't understand a young translator ringed the names I had to mark , " she said . "

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Maria Szabo of the Hungarian office organising the elections on behalf of the OSCE told Reuters on Wednesday her office was studying the letter but said they had followed OSCE instructions very carefully .

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" The envelopes , each with the five different voting slips , were sealed until voting and had written instructions on how to vote , " she said . "

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But of course those who could not read had to be shown . "


Estonia presidential race next round on Sept 20 .


Estonia will hold the next round of an inconclusive state presidential race on September 20 , parliamentary officers of the Baltic state ruled on Wednesday .

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This comes after three votes in the 101-strong parliament on Monday and Tuesday failed to give either incumbent Lennart Meri or rival candidate Arnold Ruutel the necessary 68 votes for a clear mandate .

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The outcome was a rebuff for Meri , failing three times to win backing in his bid for a second term as head of state of the former Soviet republic .

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Parliament 's press officer told Reuters that Speaker Toomas Savi will convene an electoral college involving 101 MPs and and 273 local government representatives on September 20 .

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Both Meri , 67 , and Ruutel , 68 will automatically be listed as candidates but the election will also be open to new nominations with the backing of any 21 members of the college .

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The winner has to secure a majority from the college within two rounds of voting otherwise the election will go back before the parliament .

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Lebed likely to fail on Chechnya - Polish minister .


Russian security chief Aleksander Lebed faces an almost impossible task in Chechnya and is likely to be sidelined , Polish Foreign Minister Dariusz Rosati was reported as saying on Wednesday .

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According to best-selling daily Gazeta Wyborcza , Rosati told the Polish parliament 's foreign affairs committee on Tuesday that the fact Lebed had been charged with resolving the conflict in Chechnya showed he would be marginalised .

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" It is almost impossible to gain success in this , " it quoted Rosati as saying during a committee debate .

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Yeltsin sent him there to compromise him .


This tactical manoeuvre also shows that in the ruling circle there is no unity of action , " he said .

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Lebed , who has arranged a military truce with separatist rebels in the southern Russia region , was in Moscow this week seeking support for a deal on Chechnya 's political status .

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But Russian President Boris Yeltsin has seemed unwilling to meet his envoy and went on holiday on Monday .

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Gazeta Wyborcza quoted Rosati as saying Yeltsin was very ill and effectively on leave , but for now retained control in Russia although matters were passing into the hands of his close collaborators .

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Rosati said Russia 's July polls , in which Yeltsin won re-election , showed democracy had passed an important test and the Russian people had chosed the path of further reforms .

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But he said a power struggle in Russia 's ruling circles could not be ruled out , which could harm further reforms .

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He expressed concern over problems in the Russian economy , saying this could lead to social unrest , the daily reported .

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On Moscow 's foreign policy , Rosati said it had changed its stance on NATO 's eastward expansion and was preparing itself for Poland 's inevitable entry into the Western alliance .

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He also reportedly criticised Russian Foreign Minister Yevgeny Primakov , saying his style of work resembled that of the Soviet-era 1970s and 1980s .

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Romania 's state budget deficit jumped sharply in June to 1,242.9 billion lei for the January-June period from 596.5 billion lei in January-May , official data showed on Wednesday .

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Six-month expenditures stood at 9.50 trillion lei , up from 7.56 trillion lei at end-May , with education and health spending accounting for 31.6 percent of state expenses and economic subsidies and support taking some 26 percent .

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January-June revenues went up to 8.26 trillion lei from 6.96 trillion lei in the first five months this year .


Romania 's government is expected to revise the 1996 budget on Wednesday to bring it into line with higher inflation , new wage and pension indexations and costs of energy imports that have pushed up the state deficit .

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Under the revised version state spending is expected to rise by some 566 billion lei .


No new deficit forecast has been issued so far .


In July the government gave a 6.0-percent wage and pension indexation to cover energy , fuel and bread price increases , which quickened inflation to 7.5 percent last month .

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In the original state budget , approved in March , revenues were envisaged at around 16.98 trillion lei and expenditures 20.17 trillion lei for 1996 .

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The state budget deficit was originally forecast to be 3.19 trillion lei for the whole year .


On Wednesday , the leu 's official rate was 3,161 to the dollar .


Costa Rica says Dutch pair kidnapped by Nicaraguans .


The Costa Rican government said on Wednesday that a Dutch couple abducted over the weekend from a tree farm in northern Costa Rica was kidnapped by former Nicaraguan guerrillas .

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" Even though it 's an act of common delinquency , the case could take a difficult turn because former Nicaraguan guerrillas are involved , " Security Minister Bernardo Arce told reporters .

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Earlier this year , a German tourist and a Swiss tour guide were kidnapped from the same general area in northern Costa Rica near the Nicaraguan border .

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They were held for 71 days before relatives paid a ransom to free them .


Two Nicaraguan former guerrillas have been arrested in the case .


Because of the apparent threat to foreigners in Costa Rica near the Nicaraguan border , Arce said the government has advised many to take additional security measures on their own .

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Hurte Sierd Zylstra and his wife , Jetsi Hendrika Coers , both 50 years old , were seized late on Saturday or early on Sunday from a teak tree plantation they manage by at least two heavily armed men who took the two off in their own car , leaving behind a ransom note demanding $ 1.5 million .

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The plantation is owned by Dutch citizen Ebe Huizinga , who has since arrived in Costa Rica to deal with the matter .

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Gov't dodging extradition , Colombian official says .


A top judicial official and critic of President Ernesto Samper accused the government of indifference on Wednesday over efforts to lift Colombia 's five-year-old ban on extradition .

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" It would seem that the subject of extradition is unworthy of an opinion from the government , " Deputy Prosecutor-General Adolfo Salamanca said .

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Constitutional reforms were proposed on Tuesday by two senators , one of them a member of Samper 's own Liberal Party , aimed at lifting the ban on extradition introduced in 1991 .

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U.S. Ambassador Myles Frechette applauded the move , saying it could prompt the Clinton administration to remove Colombia from a list of outcast nations that have failed to cooperate in U.S. counternarcotics efforts .

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Samper -- who weathered a year-old crisis stemming from charges he financed his 1994 election campaign with drug money -- appeared less than enthusiastic , however .

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" Extradition is not on the government 's legislative agenda , " he told reporters on Tuesday .


He added that he did not oppose the idea of opening a public debate over the issue .


But he fell far short of endorsing the idea of putting Colombian drug lords onto U.S.-bound flights to serve stiff penalities in American prisons .

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Salamanca , who spoke at a meeting on kidnapping in Colombia , has said in the past that there was ample evidence to prove that Samper 's campaign received millions of dollars in contributions from the country 's top drug lords .

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Quake shakes Costa Rica during Hashimoto visit .


A moderate earthquake measuring 5.0 on the Richter scale shook Costa Rica on Wednesday during a visit by Japanese Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto , but there were no reports of casualties or damage , officials said .

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The quake struck at 11.16 a.m. ( 1716 GMT ) and was centred 10 miles ( 16 km ) south of the port of Quepos , which is 90 miles ( 140 km ) south of the capital San Jose , the Costa Rican Volcanic and Seismologicial Observatory said .

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The quake was felt for about seven seconds in most of the country but preliminary reports said no one was hurt , it added .

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The quake took place a few minutes before the end of a welcoming ceremony at Juan Santamaria airport for Hashimoto , who was starting a three-hour visit as part of a Latin American tour .

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Hashimoto , who arrived at 11 a.m. ( 1700 GMT ) , showed no sign of having felt the quake , witnesses said .

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