News In Brief

A new deal involving the sale of Sprint Corp. may be imminent, the German newspaper Welt am Sonntag reported. Citing sources close to the situation, it said Sprint and Deutsche Telekom AG were discussing a stock swap worth "about" $117 billion. A senior Deutsche Telekom executive confirmed only that his company was looking for an important acquisition in the US; it already holds 10 percent of Sprint's stock. Sprint appears to be available again after last week's efforts in the US and Europe to block its $120 billion merger with WorldCom.

Best Western, the international hotel chain, has ceased doing business in Myanmar (Burma) because of the human rights record and repressive policies of that country's government, reports said. The Phoenix-based company, through a Thai partner, had operated the Kandawgyi Palace, a 208-room luxury resort in Yangon (formerly Rangoon), the capital.

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