Captive U.S. engineer could cloud Bush visit

BEIJING -- After 18 anxious months, the family of an American electrical engineer detained by Chinese security agents is hoping that President Bush's upcoming visit to China will help win his release.

Fong Fuming of West Orange, N.J., was detained in February 2000 and accused of bribing officials for secret documents.

Fong worked as a power official in eastern China before he moved to the United States in 1989. He became a U.S. citizen in 1994.

Fong had come back to China to help an American power company bid for a contract when he was detained on Feb. 28, 2000.

China, Russia make deal on airliners, oil pipeline

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia -- Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji and his Russian counterpart signed deals Saturday on the sale of Russian airliners and a proposed oil pipeline between the two countries.

During a meeting in St. Petersburg, Russia, Zhu signed a contract with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov to buy five Tupolev-204 airliners, which will be delivered in two or three years.

They also agreed to start a feasibility study for a 1,481-mile pipeline from Siberia's Kovykta field to northeastern China, the Interfax news agency reported.

The proposed pipeline would cost an estimated $1.7 billion and would supply 20 million tons of crude oil annually from Russia to China upon completion in 2005, Interfax has said, citing a preliminary study by the Russian energy ministry.

Gold Rush-era ship found beneath streets

SAN FRANCISCO -- Workers at a hotel construction site uncovered a Gold Rush-era ship that had been buried for decades under the streets of the city's Financial District.

The construction is continuing as archaeological crews work to uncover the three-mast ship called the General Harrison, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Saturday. Oakland's Archeo-Tec has uncovered 40 feet of the ship's oak hull so far.

The General Harrison, built in Newburyport, Mass., in 1840, brought fortune seekers to San Francisco during the Gold Rush. It was left to sit in the bay and was later put on pilings and used as a warehouse.

Macedonian peace goes to hard, second phase

SKOPJE, Macedonia -- Macedonia's president underscored the significance of the fragile step-by-step peace accord with ethnic Albanians on Saturday and urged top officials to disperse fears among Macedonians weary of the deal.

Macedonia's peace process is edging on through a potentially hazardous phase with NATO collecting more weapons from ethnic Albanian rebels in return for lawmakers' promises to grant more minority rights.

The peace deal envisages rebels of the National Liberation Army handing over their weapons to NATO in three separate phases, followed by parliament passing new legislation to upgrade ethnic Albanian rights.

Massachusetts college gives aid to gay youth

BOSTON -- The decision to tell his family he was gay didn't go well for one Bridgewater State student. His father threatened to cut him off financially and left the junior feeling "like a piece of trash."

A new scholarship offered by the school could make it easier for gay and lesbian students to break unwelcome news by helping gay students whose families refuse to support them financially.

Bob Haynor, Bridgewater's outreach education coordinator, started raising funds for the scholarship in April 2000 after meeting students who were cut off after they came out. About $8,200 has been donated so far. Haynor hopes the first awards will be given next year.

--From wire reports