May 11, 1999
Web posted at: 2:07 PM EDT (1807 GMT)

AP Photo TOK110, Ambassador James Sasser looks at the damaged door of the embassy building in Beijing.

-- AID AGENCIES-PROGRESS: Seven weeks into Europe's worst refugee crisis since World War II, a battalion of aid agencies is gradually containing the logistical chaos that followed their initial stampede into the region. Major problems so far have included bureaucratic hassles with customs officers, an outdated port overwhelmed by extra business, and inadequate coordination among the relief groups themselves -- more than 130 in Albania alone. PM-Kosovo-Relief Headaches. By David Crary.

-- GUNS-SAFETY: Some of the nation's toughest anti-gun groups are joining with their historic enemy, gun manufacturers, to warn that the safety locks touted by President Clinton and others to fight youth violence can offer a false -- even dangerous -- sense of security. "We're doing a tremendous disservice to consumers if we say, 'Just run out and get a safety lock, and you'll be safe,"' said Kristen Rand of the anti-gun Violence Policy Center. She said some are made of such flimsy plastic they can easily be crushed. "In some of the ways the president portrays them, he sends a wrong message. They're not childproof," agreed Robert Delfay, president of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, which represents gun and ammunition makers. PM-Guns-Safety Locks. By Sally Buzbee.

BOX: PM-Gun Locks-Glance: Types of gun safety locks.

-- MILLENNIUM FEARS: Every week, millions of Japanese TV viewers tune in to watch a couple of men building a bunker for the end of the world. It's a race against time. They have to finish before July. As the end of the century nears, Japan has come under an odd spell -- the apocalyptic preachings of the 16th century soothsayer Nostradamus. PM-MIL-Fearing the End. By Joji Sakurai.

AP PHOTO REFER:

-- PM-Obit-Silverstein: AP Photos NY42, Silverstein; NY43, Shows "A Light in the Attic."

The AP

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