31.   The talks opened with a one-on-one meeting between the Russian delegation head, Nationalities Minister Vyacheslav Mikhailov, and Abumuslimov, Interfax said.

32.   They will end around midday Tuesday with a joint conference between Jordanian delegation head Fayez al-Tarrawneh and his Israeli counterpart Eliakim Rubinstein.

33.   US delegation head Michael Matheson meanwhile insisted that tough landmine checks should be set up and any nation breaking it should be sanctioned through the UN Security Council.

34.   US delegation head Treasury Undersecretary Jeffrey Shafer led the delegates in urging them to share more as befitted their newfound economic status.

35.   Ziyad Abou Zayed was apparently the only delegation head to accept the offer to see an unspecified military site and a weapons factory.

36.   Japanese delegation heads arriving at the Commerce Department said the brief meeting Wednesday was essentially to set the schedule for the next two days of talks.

37.   Negotiators will miss a Friday deadline for signing a comprehensive nuclear test ban draft treaty, several delegation heads said at the UN disarmament conference here.

38.   North Korean delegation head First Vice-Foreign Minister Kang Sung-Joo would not leave Geneva before Gallucci came back, a North Korean source said.

39.   Other delegation heads said Wednesday that the talks would not conclude this week despite the increasing urgency to finalise the draft treaty.

40.   PLO chief negotiator Nabil Shaath and Israeli delegation head Danny Rotschild on Monday set up a committee on transferring civilian powers to Palestinians in the West Bank.