EVENTS

NATO BOMBS SERB POSITIONS AGAIN NATO warplanes on Wednesday bombed Bosnian Serb positions and two missile launchers used to fire on British jets on Tuesday, while Serb fighters were poised to overrun a United Nations ``safe area'' in northwest Bosnia. UN chief Boutros Boutros-Ghali called the second strike by Western allies in three days a success. Villages near Bihac were reportedly ablaze from fighting. UN personnel in Bosnia were ordered to minimize movement and radio communications, and troops guarding UN heavy-weapons collection points were to be withdrawn. A UN envoy was to meet Wednesday with Serb President Slobodan Milosevic and a rebel Serb leader to discuss the situation. Worldwide market decline

Heavy Wall Street losses Tuesday rippled into worldwide stock-market price plunges on Wednesday morning. On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial index ended 2.43 percent down, largely due to investors moving out of equities and into Treasury bonds.

Durable-goods orders drop

Led by a steep decline in demand for cars and other transportation equipment, new orders to United States factories for big-ticket durable goods plunged 1.5 percent in October, the first drop since July. The decline surprised many analysts.

College aid set aside

The Chinese government has set aside $13.8 million to aid poor college students, an official report said Wednesday.

For years, the state bore all college education costs, but this year, 40 of 369 institutions of higher learning required students to pay tuition. Some cities and schools already have set aside funds for students.

Kids' park plan rejected

Fearing they might give peace activists a rallying point, the Los Alamos, N.M., county council rejected a request by thousands of children from 50 states and 53 countries to build a peace park in the atomic bomb's birthplace. Signatures had been gathered from more than 41,000 youngsters who donated about $20,000 to the cause.

Rare prints found in trunk

A cache of rare prints, including ones by Duerer, Rembrandt, and Goya, have been found in a wooden trunk that lay forgotten for 100 years in a London outhouse. The prints, which are expected to fetch up to $550,000, will be auctioned at Sotheby's next month.