News Digest Iraqi halt on oil exports comes to an end ■The pricing dispute ceases, resuming the current contract with other producing markets. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS BAGHDAD, Iraq — Iraq said Sunday it would resume its oil exports to fulfill its existing con tracts, backing away from a halt it called two days earlier in a dis pute with the United Nations overpricing. Iraq, the third largest produc er in OPEC, stopped production Friday, blaming the United Nations’ refusal to authorize a new payment arrangement for exports under the oil-for-food program. The halt, however, did not disrupt oil markets as many had feared. The United States has said it would tap its reserves to counter any Iraqi cut-off and Saudi Arabia - by far OPEC's largest producer - hinted it could do the same, citing the need to keep the market stable. The announcement of Baghdad’s turnaround was made Sunday by Oil Minister Amer Mohammed Rashid. “The Iraqi oil policy has been always aimed at stability of the world oil market. Iraq has absolutely no intention to termi nate or hinder the exports of its crude in the world market,” Rashid said at a news confer ence. He said Iraq is working with U.N. oil overseers to export the full quantity of oil agreed to under the current six-month phase of the oil-for-food deal. This phase is due to end Tuesday, but because of the disruption, pumping will now be extended until sometime in January. Rashid said Iraq has no condi tions for resuming exports. Peter Gignoux,' head of the petroleum desk at Salomon Smith Barney in London, said Iraq’s decision "doesn’t surprise me at all.” Gignoux noted that with oil prices still hovering above $30 a barrel even after falling more than a dollar Friday, Iraq would be missing out on a handsome revenue stream if it continued to halt its crude exports. “At the end of the day, they can't bear not to take advantage of these higher prices,” said Gignoux. Friday’s suspension was “an excuse to push themselves fur ther out of the (embargo) box,” he added. Iraq has been under U.N. sanctions since it invaded Kuwait in August 1990 and was forced out seven months later by a U.S.-led international coali tion. The current dispute came when Iraq made its monthly pro posal last week for prices on its oil exports. The U.N. sanctions committee must approve the prices. Then under the oil-for food deal, profits from Iraqi exports go into an escrow bank account used to buy food, medi cine, humanitarian goods and to pay reparations for die invasion. Rehnquist, court hear from Gore, Bush lawyers THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON—In his long Supreme Court career, Chief Justice William Rehnquist has tangled with presidential politics three times before - in the Watergate, Paula Jones and President Clinton impeachment cases. This time, Rehnquist will try to forge unanimi ty on legal issues underpinning a 2000 presidential election that revealed a nearly evenly divided elec torate. Rehnquist and the other eight justices heard from lawyers for Republican George W. Bush and Democrat A1 Gore on Friday. The issue before the court - whether the Florida Supreme Court over stepped its authority by extending the time for counties to certify their votes - will not decide the disputed election, but a ruling against Gore could add significant pressure for him to concede. Rehnquist is an enthusiastic conservative whose ideology often is on display on the bench. His combative questions for Gore lawyer Laurence Tttbe raised some eyebrows at Friday's hearing. But even those who disagree with Rehnquist say he has been able to set aside bias when con fronted with politically sensitive cases. “He’s someone who, with all his clearly felt ide ological views, can see both sides of the question,” said Perry Dane, law professor at Rutgers University and a former law clerk to Justice William Brennan, Rehnquist’s liberal nemesis on the court for nearly two decades before retiring in 1990. Rehnquist, 76, was a junior justice and among the most conservative when the court issued its unanimous 1974 ruling that forced Richard Nixon to turn over his Oval Office tapes. In that case, Rehnquist recused himself before the case was decided 8-0. Rehnquist, who was nominated to the bench by Nixon, had dealt with the tapes issue ear lier in his career as a Justice Department lawyer. Rehnquist had risen to chief justice by the time the court issued its unanimous 1997 ruling that Paula Jones could sue Clinton for sexual harass ment In that ruling, Rehnquist’s legal reasoning was apparently persuasive enough to attract the court's two Clinton nominees, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer. TODAY Partly cloudy high 39, low 18 Weather TOMORROW Partly cloudy high 35, low 16 c Man. V» °l HnSHr _