Forensic experts finished Monday identifying the remains of all 113 victims of the Concorde crash, nearly 2 weeks after the supersonic jet plunged to the ground in a town outside Paris, a French public prosecutor said. Prosecutor Xavier Salvat also said he ordered experts to evaluate the jet's tires, motors, tanks and other important features as part of the ongoing judicial inquiry into the July 25 crash. Salvat, the prosecutor in Pontoise, north of Paris, who is in charge of the judicial inquiry, said investigators still had not pinpointed the chain of events that led the delta-winged jetliner, streaming with flames, to plunge into a small hotel in Gonesse north of Paris shortly after takeoff. Four people on the ground and all 109 people in the plane were killed. The French government has grounded the 5 remaining Air France Concordes while the inquiry continues.

The reward of a thing well done is to have done it

A top Palestinian negotiator on Monday accused the U.S. of favoring Israel and said American pressure on the Palestinians was hampering efforts to reach a final peace agreement by Sept. 13. Ahmed Qureia, one of the top negotiators at a failed summit at Camp David last month, warned that another summit would only be a "trap" if the U.S. and Israel do not recognize Palestinian rights to east Jerusalem. In order for another round of talks to be possible, either Israel must agree to divide the disputed city or the U.S. must issue "a letter of guarantees specifying its real positions and not those positions biased toward the Israelis," Qureia said. At the U.S.-mediated summit, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak had offered the Palestinians some control in east Jerusalem, including in the walled Old City, but Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat demanded full sovereignty over the sector Israel captured in 1967.

Straight and steady. Know where you are going, and where you want to be.

Southern African leaders pressed the warring parties in Congo on Monday to join a dialogue as part of the peace process aiming to end the country's civil war. But the Heads of state from the 14-nation Southern African Development Community, who ended their annual summit Monday, postponed addressing Congo President Laurent Kabila's rejection of the mediator for the dialogue. In a final statement, the leaders insisted the Congolese peace process was still on track, despite repeated violations of cease-fires and other setbacks. Congo has been wracked by civil war with Uganda and Rwanda backing Congolese rebels and Angola, Namibia and Zimbabwe supporting Kabila. Kabila did not show up for the summit. The summit urged the Congolese to honor their agreements by supporting an internal political dialogue under former Botswana President Sir Ketumile Masire, who Kabila has adamantly rejected as a mediator.

Everything is sweetened by risk.

Stepping up its campaign against the Taliban government in Afghanistan, the Clinton administration said Monday it is discussing with other U.N. Security Council members the possibility of imposing an arms embargo against that country. This and other punitive measures are being contemplated for the Taliban's refusal to hand over suspected terrorist Osama bin Laden, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said. Boucher said other steps include barring senior Taliban officials from traveling internationally and the closing of Taliban offices in foreign countries. Bin Laden, a Saudi exile, is wanted for the East Africa bombings but the Taliban says he cannot be turned over to American authorities because there is no bilateral extradition treaty. The Taliban also says Afghan culture forbids a guest in their country to be delivered to enemies.

Life is lived in the present. Yesterday is gone, tomorrow is yet to be. Today is the miracle

When it meets on Tuesday, Chile's Supreme Court is expected confirm it has given its legal approval for Gen. Augusto Pinochet to be tried on human rights abuse charges. But even with the high court agreeing to the elimination of his immunity from prosecution, the former dictator's foes acknowledge that a quick trial is unlikely. The former dictator's age of 84, his medical problems and his other legal privileges could drag out attempts to try him on charges stemming from his 1973-1990 rule. The court voted last week on Pinochet's appeal of a lower court's ruling stripping him of the immunity he enjoys as a senator-for-life, a position he created for himself in the constitution written by his regime. An official Chilean government report says 3,197 people died or disappeared at the hands of Pinochet's secret police after he toppled the country's elected Marxist president in a 1973 coup.

To know is nothing at all. To imagine is everything.

Astronomers said Monday they have found nine new planets circling stars outside our solar system - evidence that the Earth and its neighbors may not be as special as we like to think. Three teams of researchers from Switzerland and the United States told a meeting of the International Astronomical Union about the discovery of the so-called exoplanets, including one known to be the second planet orbiting a single star. It was only the second time astronomers have found more than one planet orbiting a star outside our own solar system. "The findings suggest that it's quite common to have planets around other stars, so our solar system is not as unique as we might think," said Jim O'Donnell, a spokesman for the group.

All newborns in Maine, but not neighboring New Hampshire, are routinely tested for a sometimes fatal metabolic disease called MCAD. In Colorado, they're tested for sickle cell disease, but not across the state line in Utah. Concerned by such inconsistencies, the American Academy of Pediatrics wants the federal government to adopt uniform testing standards for the 4 million infants born nationwide each year. The academy urges the move in a supplemental report published Monday in the August issue of its journal, Pediatrics, summarizing recommendations of a task force that met in May 1999 at the request of the federal Health Resources and Services Administration. Tests are available for about 30 inherited diseases, but few states require newborn screening for them all. The report does not specify which or how many diseases should be included.

Talent develops in a quiet, alone; character is sharpened in the torrent of the world.
--Goethe--

The company that helped market handheld electronic organizers as a must-have for the corporate set began selling on Monday a more stylish, and less expensive, device aimed squarely at younger buyers. Palm Inc.'s new m100 organizer, which has curvy edges, a double-hinged flip top and removable front plate, is the most eye-pleasing model since the Santa Clara, Calif.-company introduced its popular Palm series in 1996. "We're targeting people in school, people getting their first jobs, who are computer-friendly but not experts, and saying 'Here's a product where you can get everything you need right out of the box for $149,'" said John Cook, senior director of Palm's product marketing group.

Security experts were warning Internet users Monday about a security hole in Netscape's Web browser that has already infected almost 1,000 computers. Once a computer is infected, a hacker can click through the victim's computer and see, run and delete files on the target computer. The method, dubbed "Brown Orifice" in a reference to the popular hacker tool BackOrifice, has been making the rounds of computer security mailing lists and bulletin boards over the weekend. Netscape has not yet made a remedy available, but are working on the problem. The person who posted the code, who identified himself as Dan Brumleve, also posted a sample bit of computer code on his Web site that can be modified for more malicious purposes and a list of some of the users who have been infected.