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THE US
Neither freezing rain nor snow barred New Hampshire residents from primary elections. Final results from television polls tracking likely voters predicted that Bob Dole and Pat Buchanan would tie, Lamar Alexander closely trail them, and Steve Forbes would take fourth place. Residents of two tiny towns - Dixonville Notch and Hart's Location - cast the first votes just after midnight. The results? Dole won a slight lead over Alexander and Pat Buchanan trailed far behind.
A judge moved the Oklahoma City federal building bombing trial to Denver, saying that Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols could not be guaranteed a fair trail otherwise. A trial date still needs to be set.
In decisions on religion, race, and workers rights, the Supreme Court let Colorado keep a monument engraved with the Ten Commandments in a public park, turning away arguments that the display violates the separation of church and state. It also rejected a case charging St. Louis with unlawful racial gerrymandering in the way it elects its aldermen, and refused to revive a sexual harassment lawsuit against Ford Motor Co. The court also turned away a Michigan "right to die" dispute and agreed to decide if Congress can require cable television systems to carry local broadcast stations.
The Clinton administration wants Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams to bring Irish nationalists back into the Northern Ireland peace process but isn't making that a condition for issuing him a new visa, the White House said.
Microsoft Corp. is expected to announce a reorganization that would position the computer giant to become a key Internet player, The New York Times said. A new interactive media division would focus on the growing Internet market and the next generation of digital video disks. Also, Apple Computer Inc. granted rights to its Macintosh operating system to Motorola Inc., which could greatly extend Macintosh's reach into China.
A tethered half-ton satellite will be aboard NASA's shuttle Columbia due to be launched tomorrow. The seven crew members have been practicing to improve the tether's performance. Last time the satellite was in space the tether stuck and the satellite almost had to be ditched.
Vice President Gore promised the AFL-CIO that Clinton wlll veto a Republican bill unions say would hamper the enforcement powers of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Gore addressed the the labor organization at a winter meeting in Bal Harbour, Fla. Earlier, the AFL-CIO unveiled a long-term, multimillion dollar plan to help unions give top priority to recruiting new members to the ailing labor movement.
After meeting with Cuban President Fidel Castro, two of former President Kennedy's nephews said the leader has agreed to consider other sources of fuel as his country builds a nuclear-power plant a few hundred miles south of Florida. Brothers Michael Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. met with Castro as members of a delegation of US environmental and energy expects.
The Virginia legislature is considering a bill that would protect tobacco companies from state government lawsuits. It would make it nearly impossible for the state to recover the cost of treating poor people with smoking-related illnesses.
Every year since 1990, tolerance has increased among US teens for marijuana use, a study by the Partnership for a Drug Free America found. The 38 percent of teens who reported experimenting with pot was the highest total in seven years.
Women are no more likely than men to default on business loans and in some cases are a better risk, says a survey released by Working Woman magazine and Dun and Bradstreet, a business information company.
Charlie Finley, longtime owner of the Oakland Athletics baseball team, died. He was an innovator and maverick, and came up with the ideas of colorful uniforms, designated hitters, and night World Series games.
THE WORLD
Pitched battles between Russian troops and Chechen rebels in the streets of Novogroznensky, Chechnya, killed some 170 rebels and about 30 soldiers, military officials said. Last week, Russian forces began moving toward the rebel stronghold after Moscow failed to reach an agreement with local leaders to drive out an estimated 1,000 rebels from the village.
Many Bosnian Serbs heeded the call from their leaders to evacuate five Sarajevo suburbs that are to be handed over to the Muslim-led government. Bosnian Serbs vehemently oppose the Dayton accord provision that gives control of Sarajevo to their former rivals. And scuffles broke out between Bosnian Muslims and Croats 30 minutes after the divided town of Mostar was officially reunified. Peace in Mostar and Sarajevo is considered critical to the success of the Dayton accord.
British police seized explosives and bomb-making equipment, but made no arrests in a series of raids in London. Irish police also raided the Dublin home of an Irish man - injured by an explosion on a double-decker bus in London - and reportedly ruled him out as a suspect. And Northern Ireland's largely protestant "loyalist" gunmen reportedly were to meet in Belfast to decide whether to avenge the IRA bombing campaign.
Cambodia enraged ecologists after it signed 30 contracts with foreign companies to log 16 million acres of forest land from the country's estimated total of 17.3 million acres. The government maintains it is committed to protecting the environment.
Bahrain arrested 20 Shiite Muslim dissidents following the recent bombings in its capital, Manama. The Iran-backed Shiites are seeking the restoration of the parliament dissolved in 1975 and also the release of all political prisoners. A slight majority of Bahrainis are Shiites, while the ruling Al Khalifa family is Sunni.
Japan and South Korea announced competing claims to disputed waters around their shores. Two hours after Japan announced the creation of a 200-nautical-mile economic zone, South Korea responded with a similar claim.
In post-election violence across Bangladesh, three people were killed and over 100 injured. Also, opposition parties called for strikes throughout March to protest last week's general elections they claim were rigged. Major opposition parties boycotted the polls. Premier Khaleda Zia's party won 207 of 300 parliamentary seats.
Qatar said it foiled a coup attempt and arrested the plotters. Bedouins loyal to deposed Emir Sheikh Khalifa bin Hamad al-Thani were behind the aborted attempt, sources said. He was overthrown in a June 1995 coup by his son Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani. Earlier, the former emir vowed to return to power soon.
Iraqi and UN officials ended nearly two weeks of talks without reaching an agreement on permitting Baghdad to sell $2 billion in oil sales over six months to meet humanitarian needs. Iraq's insistence to control the distribution of food to Kurds through its own agents is still the stumbling block, sources close to the talks said.
Nearly a million people rallied in Madrid to protest terrorism by Basque separatists who are fighting for a separate homeland. The march brought together rival political leaders. It was the largest demonstration in Spain in more than a decade. Similar marches were held in Valencia and Seville.
Three more Colombian ruling party lawmakers were formally linked to the drug-corruption scandal that threatens to bring down President Ernesto Samper's government, sources said. Samper has been accused of using Cali drug cartel donations in his 1994 election bid.
ETCETERA
If the deforestation does not stop, Cambodia will be, alas, a desert country in the 21st century."
- King Norodom Sihanouk, protesting his country's contracts with 30 foreign firms to log 16 million acres of forest.
Russia's Mir, the world's only functioning space station, marked 10 years in orbit. Russian officials said that they hoped to keep Mir aloft into the next century. Now on board are two Russians and a visiting German.
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A Manchester band with an acknowledged debt to the Beatles swept the British music industry's Brit Awards. Oasis won for best group, best album, and best video. David Bowie was honored for making an "Outstanding Contribution to the British Music Industry." In London theater, "Jolson," a musical biography of entertainer Al Jolson, and "Skylight," David Hare's searing portrait of a failed love affair, won the 1995 Laurence Olivier awards for best musical and play respectively.
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Campaign '96 Web Sites
GOP CANDIDATE SITES:
Bob Dole - http://www.dole96.com
Pat Buchanan - http://www.buchanan.org
Lamar Alexander - http://www.Nashville.Net/ ~lamar
Steve Forbes - http://www.forbes96.com
Richard Lugar - http://www.iquest.net/lugar/ lugar.htm
PARTY SITES
Democratic National Committee - http://www. democrats.org
Republican National Committee - http://www.mc.org
CANDIDATES WHO WITHDREW BUT ARE STILL ON THE WEB
Phil Gramm - http://www.gramm96.org
Arlen Specter - http://BizServe.com/specter
- Associated Press