1.   Several legislators have urged the government to suspend the controversial value-added tax that was extended to cover service industries.

2.   Republicans and Democrats said last week they will resume talks on Friday, though some legislators are urging their colleagues to reconvene earlier.

3.   State legislators urged the California Department of Corporations to draft tougher rules to protect taxpayers when health maintenance organizations convert from non-profit to for-profit status.

4.   The legislators are urging U.S. District Judge David Folsom of Texarkana to allow Jamail to testify about his tobacco-related discussions with the attorney general.

5.   The legislators urged Clinton to pardon Lloyd George, a former state representative from Danville, Ark., a Clinton aide said.

6.   Opposition legislators urged MVR to review the laws to dispel perceptions that Congress is a rubber stamp for the government.

7.   PROVISIONAL legislators have urged the Financial Secretary not to carry out his threat to remove some tax concessions in the Budget if they reject the fuel tax rise.

8.   A leading opposition legislator on Thursday urged lame duck Prime Minister Banharn Silpa-archa to dissolve Parliament and let the public choose a new leader.

9.   An opposition legislator is urging Jamaican authorities to look into whether an army helicopter guarded a drug shipment before it left the country aboard a cargo plane for Europe.