The New York Times

TAX CUTS - Republican leaders in the House and Senate agreed Tuesday night on a tax-cutting package that took a new approach to reducing income tax rates.

NORTH KOREA - North Korea's preparations for the test launching of a new long-range missile this month have caused a dramatic change of course in defense strategy and diplomacy for both Japan and South Korea.

ASSASSINATION FILM - A divided federal arbitration panel announced that the government must pay the heirs of Abraham Zapruder $16 million for his film of President John F. Kennedy's assassination, the highest price ever paid for a historical American artifact.

PEDIATRICS' TELEVISION RULES - Children under 2 years old should not watch television, older children should not have television sets in their bedrooms and pediatricians should have parents fill out a "media history" on office visits, according to recommendations by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

ENDOCRINE STUDY - A panel of experts convened to study endocrine disrupters has concluded that not enough is known about them to determine whether they cause health problems at the low levels in which they typically occur in the environment.

GENERAL'S POSITION - At a level at which there are few second chances in the U.S. military, Gen. Joseph Ralston has been not only redeemed but resurrected after he was denied the Pentagon's top post, but received NATO's

PRO WRESTLING - After cashing in on the public's taste for increasingly outrageous wrestling competitions, the company that promotes and stages the most popular wrestling events, including Wrestlemania, will try to cash in on the public's fervor for initial public offerings.

CONGO - The search for peace in Congo depends on disarming the very men who attacked a young woman a week ago. They have become the key element in the cease-fire plan to end the war in Congo but an unpredictable one that represents the biggest threat to peace.

GUN LAWS - House Majority Leader Dick Armey said disagreements between Republicans and Democrats about how extensively to regulate gun shows remained serious enough that Congress was unlikely to pass any new gun-control legislation before the beginning of a monthlong recess Saturday.

OLYMPIC SCANDAL - A Utah businessman pleaded guilty in federal court to a misdemeanor tax violation in the first criminal case to result from the investigation into whether vote buying was involved in Salt Lake City's winning bid for the 2002 Winter Olympic Games.

http://www.nytimes.

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