And in Other news this January 10, 1998 week:

• President Clinton announced that he would balance AMERICA'S BUDGET in fiscal 1999, three years ahead of schedule; the Congressional Budget Office said the deficit in fiscal 1998 would be a mere $5 billion. Any surplus, said Newt Gingrich, the Republican speaker of the House, should be spent first to pay off the national debt, and second to cover a tax cut. Mr Clinton promised more money for child care and an expansion of the Medicare health programme to 55-64-year-olds.
• MICHAEL KENNEDY, the fourth son of Bobby, and SONNY BONO, ex-husband of Cher and more recently a congressman from California, were killed in separate skiing accidents.
• American troops pulled out of the Quarry Hill complex in PANAMA, nerve-centre of the United States' military presence there.
• MEXICO's interior minister, Emilio Chuayffet, resigned after the Chiapas massacre. His post went to Francisco Labastida, the agriculture minister. Separately, the finance portfolio, unassigned for two weeks, went to Jose Angel Gurria, until now foreign minister, but no stranger to finance. A woman senator, Rosario Green, got his post.
• After the Christmas-eve vandalism of a Jewish cemetery, ARGENTINA's government promised a law punishing the desecration of tombs.
• BRAZIL's legislators were dragged unhappily back for a special session to push ahead some overdue constitutional reforms. Not too unhappily: they get triple pay, $22,000 for the month.
• More than 1,000 KURDISH REFUGEES streamed from Turkey and Iraq to Italy. France, Germany and Austria, fearing Kurds would exploit Europe's free-travel regime to enter their countries, stepped up Border controls.
• Mo Mowlam, Britain's secretary of state for NORTHERN IRELAND, said she would meet imprisoned Protestant paramilitaries in the province in an effort to prevent them withdrawing support for peace talks.
• Thousands of JOBLESS FRENCHMEN marched against unemployment, and protesters occupied welfare offices to demand more money from the government.
• ITALY said its budget deficit dropped to 2.7% of GDP in 1997, easily within the limits that allow countries to join Europe's single currency.
• Russia's President BORIS YELTSIN postponed a trip to India and declared himself on holiday until January 19th, provoking further worries about his fragile health.
• Russia redenominated its currency, introducing a new ROUBLE worth a thousand old ones. The new rouble was to start with valued at about six to the dollar.
• VALDAS ADAMKUS, a retired American environmental official, was elected president of Lithuania.
• Feminists claimed to have been responsible for beheading Copenhagen's famous LITTLE MERMAID statue.
• Several hundred Algerian civilians were MASSACRED in the first days of Ramadan, allegedly by Islamist terrorists. To the Algerian government's anger, America and Europe are calling for something to be done.
• DAVID LEVY, Israel's foreign minister, resigned, withdrawing his party from the government coalition. Binyamin Netanyahu, the prime minister, was left with a majority of one, but managed to get his budget through comfortably.
• Iran's PRESIDENT KHATAMI, in an interview on CNN television, called for a dialogue between American and Iranian people. Yes, but it should also be between governments, responded America.
• Daniel arap Moi, aged 73 and KENYA'S PRESIDENT since 1978, was declared winner of a controversial presidential election. The ruling party's majority in parliament was much reduced.
• Nearly 300 civilians were murdered in BURUNDI when rebels attacked the country's main airport. Rebels and the army blamed each other for the massacre.
• South Africa's former president P.W. BOTHA is to be prosecuted for refusing to appear before the Truth Commission. The commission wanted him to explain his role in imposing a state of emergency in the late 1980s.
• As Indonesia's economic shambles threatened bankruptcies and social unrest, PRESIDENT SUHARTO called on the country to "keep a cool and clear head". But his budget proposals were considered unrealistic. Indonesia faces massive additional unemployment as other crisis-hit Asian countries prepare to return thousands of Indonesian labourers.
• The embalmed body of MAO ZEDONG, who died in 1976, was back on display, and attracting queues, in Beijing after a nine-month cosmetic treatment.
• Hong Kong newspapers said the outbreak of BIRD FLU had been mishandled, making their strongest criticism of the administration since the former British colony was returned to China in July.
• At least 138 people have died of cold in northern BANGLADESH in the past two weeks. It has been the country's most severe winter for many years.