TUESDAY, MARCH 12

UNITED STATES - Presidential primaries in Florida,

Mississippi, Oklahoma, Oregon, Tennessee and Texas (Super Tuesday).

ANKARA - Parliamentary vote of confidence in Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz's new government.

VIENNA - Austrian President Thomas Klestil swears in new government of Chancellor Franz Vranitzky 0830 GMT.

LONDON - Conference organised by Kuwaiti Information Centre in missing prisoners of war (POWs); speakers include former U.S. President George Bush, British Foreign Secretary Malcolm Rifkind, U.N. special commission head Rolf Ekeus, former Russian foreign minister Andrei Kozyrev and former U.S. National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft (To March 13).

WINDHOEK, Namibia - European Union-ACP joint assembly;

expected to discuss refugees, anti-personnel mines in developing

countries and situation in countries including Angola, Burundi,

Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Somalia (To March 22).

THE HAGUE - U.N. war crimes tribunal briefing 0930 GMT.

PARIS - European Commissioner Emma Bonino gives interactive video conference on competitive European fishing fleets 0900

GMT.

MADRID - Outgoing Spanish Prime Minister Felipe Gonzalez will meet Popular Party leader Jose Maria Aznar to discuss handover of power 0930 GMT.

CARACAS - President Rafael Caldera gives annual address to

Congress 1400 GMT.

TOKYO - Brazil`s President Fernando Henrique Cardoso due to visit Japan (To March 15).

MINSK - Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko visits

Russia's oil producing regions of Siberia (To March 14).

LONDON - British government expected to publish a white paper on its stance at the European Union's Inter-Governmental Conference.

TOKYO - Tokyo District Court to hold hearing for Tomomasa

Nakagawa, key Aum Shinri Kyo religious sect member, accused of

killing lawyer Tsutsumi Sakamoto and his family.

PARIS - (TENTATIVE) Tunisian President Zine al-Abidine Ben

Ali due to address the French Parliament.

PARIS - Autumn/winter ready-to-wear shows (To March 20).

MOSCOW - Kyrgyzstan President Askar Akayev visits (To March

15).

TOKYO - Japan-Germany vice-ministerial consultation to exchange views on bilateral relations and general international situation.

KUALA LUMPUR - Sweden's King Carl Gustaf and Queen Silvia visit (To March 17).

KIEV - Dutch Prime Minister Wim Kok visits Ukraine (To March 14).

ATHENS - Romanian Foreign Minister Teodor Melescanu visits Greece to attend international meeting on Balkan cooperation.

SALE, Morocco - Trial of 25 Moroccans and three Spaniards accused of belonging to international drug trafficking network resumes.

QUITO - Congress starts impeachment proceedings against State Controller Juan Carlos Faidutti.

BUCHAREST - Romanian court holds trial hearing in the case of money spining scheme Mondoprosper's head Gheorghe Popilean charged with fraud and forgery.

MONTREAL - "14e Festival international de film sur l'art":

160 films and videos from 24 countries (To March 17). @@@

@lingua inglese

BC-TELECOMS-UNIVERSAL

Commission to adopt telecoms universal service paper ) - The European Commission is expected to adopt a paper on Wednesday outlining ways the EU can guarantee that all citizens have access to affordable phone service once telecommunications markets are liberalised. Telecoms Commissioner Martin Bangemann is expected to present the communication on "universal service" at a news conference on Wednesday in Strasbourg, Commission officials said. The paper responds to fears that a free telecoms market will lead to a deterioration of service as players compete for the profitable customers and neglect those with low incomes or in isolated areas. It will discuss questions such as how to determine which services should make up the "universal service" that is guaranteed by governments and how to define "affordability", officials said. The draft paper defines "universal service" in relatively narrow terms -- basic voice telephone that works with fax machines and modems, operator assist

ance, emergency numbers, directory assistance and pay phones, officials said. The Commission asked interested parties when it was drawing up the communication whether that definition should be expanded to cover new technological developments such as multimedia services. However, the consensus was that it should remain narrow for now to ensure that effective competition is introduced, the Commission said in a statement it issued in January. It said otherwise governments could impose onerous burdens on new players to provide universal service or to help fund it. The communication is expected to say the Commission should review the question later, however, to see if the definition needs to be updated to take account of technological progress, officials said. It is also expected to call for a precise definition of "affordable" services, they said. That was of particular interest to Research Commissioner Edith Cresson, who won tougher language on the question, one said. Ba

ngemann will present the universal service communication at a joint news conference that he is holding with Transport Commissioner Neil Kinnock on a communication on the maritime industry, officials said. Consumer Commissioner Emma Bonino also plans to discuss the paper at a news conference she is holding on March 27, when the newly reconstituted EU Consumer Committee is schediuled to hold its first meeting, said her spokesman, Filippo di Robilant. He said Bonino was eager to ensure that the "weakest" citizens -- such as retired, unemployed and handicapped people -- continued to have access to phone service at reasonable prices.