1.  Mubarak said that in fact he had been instrumental in persuading Arafat to soften an important negotiating stand.

2.  The EU Commission issued an improved negotiating stand with a laundry list of new market-opening measures by individual EU governments.

3.  Damascus was not changing its negotiating stand and would accept no compromise, the papers warned.

4.  Israeli officials said this could strengthen the negotiating stand of a victorious Labour Party.