[b]OPEC mulls

OPEC mulls
cutting crude
output by 6%
to lift prices

OPEC mulls cutting crude output by 6% to firm up oil prices

With Saudi Arabia now calling for OPEC to cut production,
energy analysts say other members of the cartel are sure to agree
to tighten their taps to try to reverse the recent slide in oil
prices.

Fears of a global recession and dwindling demand for oil will
dominate the debate when delegates of the Organization of the
Petroleum Exporting Countries meet Wednesday in Vienna, Austria.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez told a news conference on the
sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly's annual meeting Saturday
that the oil cartel's 11 member countries, including Venezuela,
have reached a "definite" consensus to cut production by at least
1 million barrels per day and perhaps as much as 1.5 million
barrels per day.

Several non-OPEC producers have agreed not to hike their
production, Chavez said, without naming any countries. Mexico and
Norway have publicly demurred, while oil companies in Russia were
reported on Friday as willing to trim output at some of their
wells.

2. Gates (1 x 24)

'Tech-industry will rebound'

Bill Gates promises tech-industry rebound at COMDEX computer fair

Microsoft chairman Bill Gates said in a speech here late
Sunday that the computer technology boom of the 1990s, currently
in a slump, will revive over the next decade.

"The productivity gains that technology will drive during this
digital decade will be double those of the 1990s," Gates told a
crowd of nearly 15,000 at this year's COMDEX -- the world's
largest computer electronics trade fair.

This year's COMDEX is being staged at a tough time. Computer
sales have flattened this year for the first since IBM sold its
first personal computer in 1981.

Meanwhile, a weak economy, coupled with travel jitters
resulting the Sept. 11 terror attacks, has cut attendance here by
25 percent to an estimated 150,000 attendees, down from the usual
200,000.

3. Stock (2 x 18)

Asian stocks close
mixed; Tokyo down

Asian stocks close mixed;Tokyo down on Banking industry

Asian stocks closed mixed Monday, with Japan and Hong Kong
slipping as investors sold market heavyweights while smaller
markets finished mostly higher.

In Japan, stocks plunged on worries over the country's debt-
ridden banking sector and the sagging economy.

The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average closed down 134.15, or 1.3
percent, to 10,081.56 after making modest gains early in the
session. On Friday, the average fell 216.08 points, or 2.1
percent.

The Hang Seng Index slipped 16.80 points, or 0.2 percent, to
10,592.45. On Friday, the index gained 70.63 points, or 0.7
percent.

Indonesian shares ended lower on continued selling in
cigarette and telecommunications blue chips as investors worried
about the weakness of the local currency. The JSX Composite Index
tumbled 5.978 points, or 1.6 percent, to 371.362.

4. HK ( 1 x 27)

HK's Tung sees negative growth

HK's leader sees negative growth for a few quarters

Hong Kong chief executive Tung Chee-hwa confirmed on Monday
that the territory was staring at its second recession in four
years as the global economy slows.

"Our economy is going through major difficulties," Tung told a
luncheon.

"Hong Kong being an externally oriented economy, we are very
badly affected, and I see that we would have negative growth for
a few quarters," he said in the government's gloomiest economic
assessment yet.

Hong Kong last fell into recession -- commonly defined as two
consecutive quarters of economic contraction -- after the onset
of the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis.

The economy grew just 0.5 percent in the second quarter year-
on-year and is widely expected to shrink by some 0.3 percent in
full-year 2001 as the United States falls into recession. The
U.S. is Hong Kong's second-largest trading partner after mainland
China

5. Ican ( 1 X 30)

Concerns dominate Internet meeting

Security concerns dominate Internet meeting

Computer geeks and public-policy wonks arriving here to take
part in the annual meeting of the body that sets standards for
the Internet's addressing system will find that, like everything
else, Sept. 11 has profoundly changed the online world.

In the wake of the devastating hijacking attacks in Washington
and New York, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and
Numbers decided to devote its annual meeting to a discussion of
computer security.

The meeting, which starts Monday, will feature an array of
panels, lectures and discussions intended to bolster the
stability of the addressing system that allows computer users
anywhere on the globe find a Web site by typing in a name like
www.nationaldynamite.com, rather than a long string of numbers.

More traditional concerns of the nonprofit body, such as
dispute-resolution processes and new domain suffixes like ".info"
and ".museum", will be pushed to the margins.