Saturday September 2 7:26 a.m. EDT

News Summary

• Bosnian Serbs Defiant - U.N. negotiators and the commander of Bosnian Serb forces have reached a stalemate in talks over lifting the siege of Sarajevo. NATO air strikes against the Bosnian Serbs have been temporarily halted to give the talks a chance, but the lack of progress may prompt a resumption of the aerial bombardment. Bosnian Serb general Ratko Mladic's refusal to remove the heavy weapons around the Bosnian capital has dampened the euphoria generated by yesterday's announcement that new face-to-face peace talks between the warring parties will be held late next week in Geneva.

• Rep. Reynolds Quits Congress - Rep. Mel Reynolds says he will resign from Congress in the aftermath of his conviction of sex crimes in Chicago. The Illinois Democrat made the announcement during an interview on CNN. Reynolds was found guilty last week on 12 counts of sexual misconduct, including having sex with a 16-year-old former campaign volunteer. He faces a minimum four-year prison sentence. Reynolds maintained his denial of the charges against him, but said his conviction would handicap his ability to serve as an effective legislator.

• OJ Teams Launches New Attack - Stunned by Judge Lance Ito's decision to limit them to using only two instances of Mark Fuhrman using a racial slur, O.J. Simpson's defense team has taken a new tack in their assault on the former detective. Defense lawyer F. Lee Bailey says the defense wants to introduce two new witnesses who would testify that Fuhrman frequently used a racial epithet referring to blacks. Defense lawyer Johnnie Cochran accused the prosecution of deliberately covering up Fuhrman's racial animosity.

• Rock 'n' Roll Forever - An all-star rock concert is scheduled for Cleveland today to celebrate the opening of the new Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. After years of delays and cost overruns, the $92 million museum is opening in Cleveland, the city that claims to be the birthplace of the music genre. The six-hour concert is to be staged next door at Cleveland Stadium. It will feature performers including Chuck Berry, Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young, Aretha Franklin and Johnny Cash. The 150,000-square-foot museum is a glass and steel pyramid reminiscent of a number of other I.M. Pei structures.

• Clinton Remembers V-J Day - Today marks the 50th anniversary of Japan's formal surrender to end World War II. President Clinton is in Hawaii to mark the occasion. The president is scheduled to deliver a speech today at the Punchbowl, a military cemetery where thousands of U.S. servicemen are buried. News that Japan would give up reached the United States on August 14, 1945. But a formal surrender did not occur until September 2, 1945. That's when Gen. Douglas MacArthur, the supreme Allied commander in the Pacific, accepted the Japanese surrender on the battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay.

• Forum Issues Ultimatum to China - Organizers of a grassroots women's forum are threatening to shut down the meeting unless Chinese authorities end surveillance and harassment of conference participants. Irene Santiago, executive director of the Non-Governmental Organizations Forum on Women, says Chinese authorities have been given until midday tomorrow to comply with an agreement under which they will stop surveillance and harassment within the conference's 103-acre site outside Beijing.

• Greenpeace Nuke Campaign Setback - Greenpeace's campaign to stop France from resuming nuclear tests in the South Pacific has been dealt a set back. French commandos stormed two of the environmental group's ships yesterday and arrested 59 activists. The ships are now being towed away from the test site at Mururoa. But as Greenpeace's protest stalled, demonstrations on Tahiti heated up with roadblocks erected around the capital. Anti-nuke protesters are warning the demonstrations could turn violent after French authorities arrested Tahiti's leading anti-nuclear activist.

• Kashmir Hostage Talks at Crisis - Authorities in India say talks with Kashmiri militants to release four Western hostages have hit a critical stage. Diplomats say the Al-Faran militants are growing impatient with the pace of negotiations, heightening concern over the fate of American Donald Hutchings and three colleagues who were abducted in July. Officials say another radio contact with the militants is scheduled for today. The kidnappers are demanding the release of three jailed Pakistani militants, a condition Indian officials have repeatedly rejected.

• Hearing in Detroit Bridge Death - A 19-year-old man will stand trial on the charge of open murder in the death of a woman who died after plunging off a Detroit bridge on Aug. 19. Prosecutors originally charged Martell Welch with second-degree murder, but sought the modified the charge because of increasingly disturbing evidence in the case. The open murder charge allows the jury to decide whether Welch should be convicted of first-degree murder or a lesser charge. Police say Deletha Word, 33, drowned in the Detroit River after jumping from the Belle Isle bridge in an effort to escape her attacker.

• NY Adopts Death Penalty - New York has become the 38th state to revive the death penalty. Republican George Pataki based his successful gubernatorial campaign last year in a large part on a promise to bring back the death penalty in the Empire State. The governor says capital punishment will save lives by deterring murders. Former governor Mario Cuomo vetoed legislation establishing the death penalty 18 times. Death penalty opponents held a candlelight vigil in Times Square protesting the action.