USA TODAY reports:
Marchers rally against Yeltsin
Hundreds of thousands of Russians frustrated by the country's deep economic recession took to the streets in nationwide protests Wednesday, but the turnout was far smaller than organizers predicted.
Until now, ordinary citizens have endured their economic crisis stoically, with few public outbursts against a government that has been unable to halt an economic decline ravaging Russia for most of this decade.
Tens of thousands of people carrying red and blue flags marched through Moscow to a rally on the edge of Red Square, where opposition leaders called for back wages to be paid and for President Boris Yeltsin's removal. Riot police watched the peaceful protest.
Turnout at dozens of demonstrations fell far below predictions by the Communist Party and other opposition groups, which had forecast 40 million would join the protests. Police had no overall figures on turnout, but estimated several hundred thousand people took part, a small fraction of Russia's 148 million people.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/nwswed01.htm

CNN repots:
Democrats struggle with impeachment inquiry vote
On the eve of Thursday's floor debate and vote, House Democrats vulnerable in next month's elections are struggling to decide whether to join the Republican majority in launching a formal impeachment investigation of President Bill Clinton.
http://www.cnn.com/

BBC reports:
As Big Ben struck midnight on Thursday a giant eye chart appeared on the London landmark's side.
The event marks the start of World Sight Day, which aims to raise awareness of blindness and the conditions associated with it.
Similar stunts in Cape Town, Hong Kong, Sao Paulo and Sydney will help raise international awareness of the steps that can be taken to avoid blindness.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/health/newsid_188000/188758.stm

WASHINGTON POST reports:
AIDS Death Rate in '97 Down 47%
The death rate from AIDS fell by nearly 50 percent last year, the largest single-year decline for a major cause of death ever recorded, federal health officials reported yesterday.
The huge drop, due largely to the availability of powerful new drug treatments, led AIDS to fall out of the top 10 causes of death in the United States for the first time since 1990. It moved from the 8th to the 14th spot in 1997.
In human terms, the unprecedented decline means that about 15,000 people are alive today who would have died in 1997 had AIDS mortality continued at the previous rate.
Although AIDS mortality has been declining for two years, 1997 was the first full year in which the life-prolonging effects of three-drug antiviral AIDS therapies were felt. The decline in 1997 – 47 percent – was nearly double what it had been in 1996.
http://washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/daily/oct98/aids.htm

SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST Reports:
Greenspan warns of American slowdown
US Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan yesterday warned of a slowdown in the American economy, but tried to allay fears of a credit crunch.
Mr Greenspan told the National Association of Business Economists that global economic troubles were making investors exceptionally risk averse.
"It is pretty obvious I think that the outlook for 1999 for the US economy has weakened measurably in the aftermath of the Russian devaluation and debt moratorium," he said.
"The sense of stability in international markets has been undermined as a belief that the Asian contagion had moved into remission has been proved quite wrong."
Investors have been pouring billions into government bonds, raising the cost of capital for businesses and individuals.
"It is an issue of yield spread expansion, which cuts far more across the world spectrum. I have never seen anything like this," Mr Greenspan said.
Falls in US stock markets from record highs had sliced about US$1,500 billion (HK$11,600 billion) off net wealth.
But he said: "We are far short of anything that could resemble a credit-crunch."
http://WWW.scmp.com/