71.   Ratwatte said the truce was holding satisfactorily and the government would shortly name two monitoring committees headed by Norwegian nationals to observe the pact.

72.   The Arab daily Al-Hayat Sunday quoted PLO chairman Yasser Arafat as saying Abbas would head the monitoring committee.

73.   Syrian official radio accused Israel on Wednesday of obstructing the formation of the five-nation ceasefire monitoring committee in south Lebanon.

74.   The flare-up came as the truce monitoring committee met behind closed doors for the third time since Sunday at the Naqura headquarters of UN peacekeepers in the border zone.

75.   The foreigners -- representatives from Canada, the Netherlands and Norway - head truce monitoring committees consisting of nominees from both the LTTE and the government.

76.   The monitoring committee last met on Wednesday when it dismissed an Israeli complaint about a Hezbollah attack against SLA militiamen inside the occupied zone.

77.   The OPEC monitoring committee is also to hold talks in Venezuela on Sunday on the world oil markets and to determine whether members are respecting their production quotas.

78.   The monitoring committee is chaired by France and also includes Israel, Lebanon, Syria and the United States.

79.   The monitoring committee is to meet Sunday and is composed of representatives from the United States, France, Syria, Israel and Lebanon.