EVENTS

CARDOSO SEEN WINNER IN BRAZIL Exit polls show Fernando Henrique Cardoso, a former finance minister who slashed Brazil's raging inflation, has been elected president of the world's third-largest democracy. Mr. Cardoso received 45 percent of the vote Oct. 3, more than half the valid ballots needed to lock up the presidency, a Gallup poll showed. Socialist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva trailed with 25 percent, while six other candidates polled a combined 17 percent. The poll, commissioned by the Estado de Sao Paulo newspaper, showed 12 percent of the electorate cast blank or null ballots. Three other exit polls reported similar results. The margin of error for the polls was between 2 percent and 3 percent. The ballot count take two weeks. Quake strikes Japan A strong earthquake struck northern Japan Oct. 4. Warnings for tidal waves were issued for parts of Hokkaido, the country's northernmost main island. The Central Meteorological Agency said the earthquake was centered in the Pacific Ocean, about 125 miles east of Nemuro on Hokkaido and 650 miles north of Tokyo. The agency estimated the earthquake had a magnitude of 7.9.

Espy to resign

The criminal investigation of US Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy will not be slowed by his resignation, the independent counsel conducting the probe says. An internal White House probe uncovered a new issue in the case: the awarding of a $1,200 scholarship, by a Tyson Foods Inc. foundation, to Mr. Espy's girlfriend, Patricia Dempsey, who has returned the money. Questions have been raised about Espy's acceptance of tickets to sports events, travel, and lodging from Tyson.

Mir rendezvous

A spaceship carrying a German scientist and a record-seeking woman cosmonaut blasted off Oct. 4 for a rendezvous with Russia's orbiting space station Mir.

Aboard the ship were Ulf Merbold of the European Space Agency, engineer Yelena Kondakova, and commander Alexander Viktorenko. Ms. Kondakova plans to stay in space for nearly six months, setting a duration record for women.

Indonesian forests burn

Fires have destroyed more than 247,000 acres of plantations and rain forests in Sumatra and Kalimantan islands in the last two months, the Indonesian government said Oct. 4.

The fires are mainly caused by the traditional agricultural practice of burning bushes to clear land for sowing.

Lloyd's investors sue, win

Investors who lost hundreds of millions at Lloyd's of London Oct. 4 won a lawsuit that alleged they were victims of negligence by professionals in the insurance market.

The judgment could total 504 million pounds ($800 million) for losses suffered in a string of disasters including the Exxon Valdez spill and Hurricane Hugo.

Shuttle seeks gorillas

Endeavour's powerful radar scanned South American rain forests Oct. 4 in an attempt to help wildlife researchers track endangered mountain gorillas in Rwanda.

Late Oct. 3, ground controllers in Houston aimed the radar toward Rwandan volcanoes, where some of the world's remaining 650 mountain gorillas live.

Researchers driven from the African nation by civil war hope the radar images, combined with topographic maps and information from satellites, will help them follow the animals' movement.