April 11, 1996

China's Prime Minister, Li Peng, began a visit to France today by placing an order for an estimated $1.5 billion worth of European-built passenger planes, sending a signal to the Clinton Administration that Beijing can turn to European partners if the United States becomes too intractable on human rights and trade. The Chinese leader, making his first visit to France since presiding over the 1989 military crackdown on the democracy movement in Tiananmen Square, met with Prime Minister Alain Juppe tonight and signed a contract for 10 short-haul A320 passenger planes for China Southern Airlines from the Airbus Industrie consortium.

This winter has lasted five years in Japan, but there is finally talk of an economic spring. The stock market is up, corporate profits are rising, and there is plenty of cash in the banks. Perhaps more important, the long economic chill has forced corporate Japan to re-examine itself and cut costs, and so now companies may be better poised than before to compete with American and European conglomerates around the globe.

The Walt Disney Company and the McDonald's Corporation, two of the defining forces in American culture, are negotiating exclusive arrangements to cross-promote their products well into the next century, a Disney executive said today. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the executive confirmed a trade report today that the two companies were working on a 10-year deal that would allow McDonald's to run as many as 17 promotions a year linked to Disney films, characters and theme parks.

A Paterson tax preparer pleaded guilty yesterday in Federal Court to filing a fraudulent return that overstated his client's deductions by $15,727. But Kevin McKeon, an Internal Revenue Service spokesman, said, "It's the taxpayer who is liable for the penalties on a false return."

Metal detectors were used for the first time yesterday at a school that enrolls about 900 sixth, seventh and eighth graders. About 10 razor blades and knives were confiscated at the violence-plagued East Camden Middle School, The Associated Press reported. DAVID STOUT