🚀 go-pugleaf

  	  	
	 WASHINGTON - As 800,000 federal workers stayed at home for a 
second day, President Bill Clinton and the Republican Congress 
dug in for a potentially long fight over the U.S. budget and the 
White House cited ``irreconcilable differences''. House of 
Representatives Speaker Newt Gingrich, fanning a bitter 
cross-town feud with Clinton, warned the conflict could drag on 
for 90 days and said he was preparing temporary spending bills 
to reopen some government agencies piecemeal.  
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	 MOSCOW - Russia's parliament fixed the date for next year's 
presidential election, a step which President Boris Yeltsin 
hopes will silence talk that the vote might be postponed.  
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	 RIYADH - Four Americans, including a woman, were fighting 
for their livesin hospitals in Saudi Arabia where an FBI team 
began an inquiry into the bombing that killed six people on 
Monday.  
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	 JERUSALEM - Israeli President Ezer Weizman officially asked 
acting Prime Minister Shimon Peres to form a new government 
following the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin.  
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	 LAGOS - Nigeria is ready to sustain its diplomatic stand-off 
with the international community over the execution of nine 
minority rights activists, a government minister said. In 
BRUSSELS, European Union officials said EU foreign ministers 
would formally approve on Monday an arms embargo and other 
sanctions against Nigeria's military rulers.  
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	 MADRID - Spanish Foreign Minister Javier Solana tiptoed 
towards NATO's top job after weeks of public wrangling among the 
allies.  
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	 DAYTON, Ohio - Bosnian peace talks remained stalemated 
despite a 12-hour intervention by U.S. Secretary of State Warren 
Christopher that ``narrowed some differences'' but left the major 
issues unresolved.  
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	 WARSAW - Poland's President Lech Walesa and his ex-communist 
rival prepared for a crucial television debate later on 
Wednesday as opinion polls showed they were neck-and-neck just 
days before the decisive round of presidential elections.  
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	 PARIS - Prime Minister Alain Juppe announced the most 
far-reaching reform of France's indebted welfare system for more 
than 30 years, including tough savings measures and a new tax to 
wipe out accumulated debts.  
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	 LONDON - British Prime Minister John Major unveiled a list 
of populist, right-wing bills in a desperate bid to regain the 
political initiative at the start of a new session of 
parliament.  
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	 ALGIERS - Joined in unlikely alliance with the outlawed 
Islamic Salvation Front, Algeria's two main legal opposition 
parties believe Thursday's presidential poll will not change the 
fate of ordinary people nor end four years of bloodshed.  
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	 CAIRO - Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir said 
government troops were advancing towards Uganda, which he has 
accused of invading southern Sudan, and were ready to launch a 
retaliatory cross-border attack.  
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	 SEOUL - Disgraced ex-president Roh Tae-woo endured marathon 
grilling by state prosecutors over his secret millions as South 
Koreans expect early arrest of the retired four-star general.  
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	 OSAKA, Japan - Asia-Pacific ministers edged closer towards 
agreement on how far and how fast to open up the world's 
fastest-growing economies -- and a new report spelt out the 
potentially huge rewards of a deal.  
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	 CAPE CANAVERAL - Space shuttle Atlantis gingerly edged up to 
the Russian space station Mir and docked with it less than an 
hour later in a move that will be repeated many times in 
building an international space station.  
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	 ATHENS - Hundreds of rampaging prisoners, including many 
foreigners, seized Athens's top security jail and were holding 
six staff hostage, police said.  

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