41.   A person close to Archer Daniels said today the special committee is certain that senior company executives were never involved in making illegal payments to employees.

42.   A person close to Home Shopping said Diller will broadcast local programming on the stations by day and develop national programs for late night.

43.   A person close to Lewis said that although the Pro Bowl linebacker thought the amount was excessive, he was uncertain whether to appeal the fine.

44.   A person close to McCook, however, said the company was more likely to offer those managers big severance packages instead of retaining them.

45.   A person close to QVC said three other companies had requested financial data and one was actively interested.

46.   A person close to the bank group said, however, that the banks were open to continuing talks with the Asian companies.

47.   A person close to the committee said Wednesday that it planned to ask for all ImClone trades made by Merrill and wanted to interview Bacanovic, the broker.

48.   A person close to the company said it believed that it had made a pre-emptive strike.

49.   A person close to the company said Sir Evelyn de Rothschild participated in the negotiations and was never an obstacle to the agreement, contrary to press speculation.

50.   A person close to the discussions said the settlement was made possible mostly because the executives who had most harshly spoken out were left out of the talks.