News In Brief

the International Monetary Fund has seen no evidence that its loans to Russia have been diverted illegally through US banks, a senior official said. US Rep. Jim Leach (R) of Iowa, chairman of the House Banking Committee, had suggested that IMF loans to Russia be halted until controls were in place to prevent diversions of the sort that allegedly occurred through the Bank of New York. But Tom Dawson, IMF director of external affairs, said tight controls had been implemented after an accounting firm found the Russian central bank in 1996 funneled $1.2 billion in IMF money to a company it controlled in the Channel Islands off Britain.

American Airlines, the nation's second-largest, was to merge Reno Air Inc. into its system - about eight months after buying the low-cost carrier. American's parent company, AMR Corp., met with its pilots Monday in a last-minute attempt to work out a deal over how Reno pilots will be integrated into the company, but no agreement was reached. The dispute evolved into a pilot sickout in February that stranded hundreds of thousands of passengers around the world. The parties were expected to continue their talks.

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