WASHINGTON (AP) – The Bush administration’s Third World debt initiative won key endorsements Tuesday from the two international agencies expected to implement the strategy.

Both Michel Camdessus, the managing director of the 151-nation International Monetary Fund, and Barber Conable, president of the other global lending organization, the World Bank, said they recognized the need for urgency in addressing the debt crisis.

Namibia independance

OMBALANTU, Namibia (AP) – South Africa said Tuesday the 4-day-old independence process in Namibia is in danger of collapsing because of fierce fighting between security forces and black nationalist guerillas.

Foreign Affairs Minister Pik Botha wrote U.N. Secretary-General Javier Periz de Cueller on Tuesday that South Africa was considering suspending the implementation of independence in the territory.

North’s judgement doubted

WASHINGTON (AP) – A former National Security Council staffer testified Tuesday that he took much of what Oliver North said with “four grains of salt” and recalled making a Pinocchio-like nose-growing gesture when he read a letter to Congress that North was drafting.

Vincent Cannistraro said he felt that North, in his efforts to help the Nicaraguan Contras, had crossed “the line from objectivity to advocacy.”

Corn crops prove safe

WASHINGTON (AP) – The head of the Federal Grain Inspection Service said Tuesday that none of the corn crop that was tested for the carcinogen aflatoxin before it was exported this year showed more than the small amounts considered safe for human consumption.

But Administrator W. Kirk Miller said the results “do not represent a profile of U.S. corn quality nationwide.” He said he did not have statistics for the corn that was sold domestically.

Speaker suspected of bribes

WASHINGTON (AP) – The Ethics committee on Tuesday interviewed two men involved in a real estate deal with House Speaker Jim Wright amid reports that Wright may have accepted $100,000 in unreported gifts from one of them.

The committee planned to resume its closed-door deliberations on a long list of possible rule violations by Wright on Wednesday, and a final outcome of the case still appeared to be more than a week away.

Chicago voter turnout

CHICAGO (AP) – Voters turned out in large numbers to elect a new mayor Tuesday as front-runner Richard M. Daley sought the office held by his father for 21 years and chief rival Timothy C. Evans battled to keep black leadership in City Hall.Maverick Republican Edward Vrdolyak was not expected to be much of a factor in a contest Democrats have won without fail since 1931 – including six straight terms captured by the late Richard J. Daley, the last of the big-city political bosses.

Cosmetic surgery damages

WASHINGTON (AP) – One woman told a House panel Tuesday how a tummy tuck severly damaged her heart and left her scarred for life, while another recounted the fat-removal surgery that disfigured her leg and nearly drove her to suicide.

Joyce Palso, of Santa Ana, Calif., said post-operative infections resulting from sloppy work of a cosmetic surgeon sent her into heart failure five times within a year.

Paramedic labeled hero

BURBANK (AP) -An off-duty paramedic saw a woman covered with blood mouth the words “help me” from a passing car, pursued the car and eventually rescued the woman and helped in the capture of her abductor, police said Tuesday.

But Robert Hodorowicz, whom police labeled a hero, said he never gave a thought to his own safety when he went after the car.

Chicago tourism advocated

PARIS (AP) – Illinois Gov. Jim Thompson on Tuesday launched a 1.5 million dollar advertising campaign to attract European tourists to his state and Chicago, billed as “the American Renaissance.”

“Europe this spring will be introduced to that place called Illinois and to Chicago, the place we call the American Renaissance,” Thompson told a news conference.