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Rocked by a string of financial debacles and scandals, Japan's Ministry of Finance announced that its top bureaucrat, Kyosuke Shinozawa, would resign. Earlier in the week, the ministry disclosed stringent new banking regulations. Some of the measures are intended to improve communication with regulatory authorities in other countries and would prevent the sort of fraudulent dealings that caused the collapse of the New York City branch of Daiwa Bank. Daiwa's former New York manager, Masahiro Tsuda, was indicted on federal charges that he helped conceal a $1.1 billion trading loss.
NEIN TO ONLINE SMUT
After complaints by prosecutors in Munich, CompuServe, the world's second largest online service, shut down more than 200 computer discussion groups and visuals--many of which are sexually explicit. "Right now, Germany is dictating what Americans...are going to be able to see," said Shari Steele, staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. CompuServe says the shutdown is only temporary.