The New York Times

IRELAND -Ulster's main Protestant party said Wednesday night that it was unwilling to join the Irish Republican Army's political wing in government as scheduled on Thursday. The decision halts all progress in the Northern Ireland peace agreement.

IRAN - After six days of nationwide pro-democracy protests that deteriorated into violent rioting, huge crowds staged counterdemonstrations, heeding the official call to praise the Islamic Republic and condemn its enemies, particularly the United States.

AIDS - American and Ugandan scientists have found a simple new way to prevent mother-to-child transmission of the AIDS virus that also is less costly and markedly more effective than the standard therapy in the third world.

JAPAN - About 90 Japanese committed suicide each day last year, a 34.7 percent rise from the previous year. Japan's economic recession and the shame and stress caused by layoffs or the fear of them are largely to blame, most experts say.

HEALTH BILL - Republicans today showed that they were calling the shots in the Senate's managed care debate, approving their own measure on hospitalization for women undergoing mastectomies and turning back three efforts by Democrats to strengthen the rights of patients.

BUSING - The Boston School Committee voted to drop race as a factor in deciding which school a child attends, effectively ending, in 2000, the last vestiges of the city's busing integration program.

SLAVE CHARGES - A woman who investigated child abuse complaints for New York City was arrested Wednesday with her husband and charged with forcing a teen-age Nigerian girl into servitude for nine years in the Bronx, Federal law-enforcement officials said.

THE BOMB - China announced Thursday that it has successfully developed the design technology to make neutron bombs and miniaturized nuclear weapons on its own, the first time it has made these assertions publicly.

NUKE HEALTH - The Administration is to announce legislation to compensate cold war nuclear weapons workers for medical care and lost wages caused by illnesses related to weapons production.

BEEF - The European Union executive commission announced Wednesday that its worldwide ban on British beef exports caused by the outbreak of mad cow disease was ending and that shipments could resume on Aug. 1.

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