September 3, 1999

Houston Comets beat New York Liberty, 73-60, and lead WNBA championship series, 1-0; photo (M)

Israelis and Palestinians fail to deliver agreement for signing ceremony in Egypt that Secretary of State Madeleine K Albright had hoped to preside over; Albright meets with Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat in Egypt, then arrives in Israel to meet with Prime Min Ehud Barak, but talks break up without a deal; at issue is Israel's refusal to release 50 Palestinian prisoners now held in Israel; negotiating atmosphere between Israelis and Palestinians was supposed to have substantially improved with new Israeli leader, Barak; it is not clear whether dispute over prisoners constitutes real crisis or matter of brinkmanship, with each side seeking to show its constituency that it is reaching for best possible bargain on emotional issue; photo (M)

Ford Sales Increased 8.1% In Industry's Best August Ford Motor said that its sales in August rose 8.1 percent, even higher than expected, making last month the best August ever for auto sales and the best month in the 1990's after adjusting for seasonal variations in demand.

NATO and United Nations officials agree to allow part of Kosovo Liberation Army to survive as lightly armed civilian emergency force; under Kosovo peace accord, rebel army is being dismantled this month under UN supervision; its successor, called Kosovo Corps, is to be civilian force, set up for coping with emergencies like earthquakes and fires; officials say its 3,000 members will have military structure formed from core commanders and brigades of present KLA; sorting out duties of new force remains extremely delicate, because of implications for Kosovo Albanians' aspiration for independence and for Yugoslavia's sovereignty over province; while NATO sees Kosovo Corps as civilian force, along lines of National Guard in US, rebel officers see it as potential core of national army, and are selling it to their followers as such (M)

Apparent demise of Daewoo Corp, company that is struggling to make payments on its $47 billion debt, is casting pall on residents of Pupyong, company town west of Seoul; almost from moment he came to power in 1997, Pres Kim Dae Jung has been waging a battle to restructure giant conglomerates, like Daewoo, that in single generation have helped transform poor country into world's 11th-largest economy, only to thrust South Korea into major debt crisis; with Daewoo's effective demise, and similar restructuring plans being forced on sister conglomerates, many Korean and foreign investors are beginning to say that twilight of nation's conglomerates is finally becoming a reality; photos; chronology of Daewoo's problems (M)