11.   Advance payment would help to improve the situation in the struggling industry and stop further decline of gold production, Tarakanovsky told a news conference Thursday.

12.   Federal payments to farmers helped drive income higher.

13.   A UN spokesman said the US payments would help reduce a short-term UN cash crunch that last week delayed the dispatch of an Australian medical team to Rwanda.

14.   The Israeli army asked Wednesday for an advance payment to help fund a larger than expected troop redeployment around Palestinian towns on the West Bank.