Also

* Global Crossing Ltd. will be allowed to sell a majority stake to a company owned by the Singapore government, a move that could end 20 months of uncertainty for the U.S. fiber optic network operator. President Bush said in a letter to Congress that he would take “no action to suspend or prohibit” Global Crossing’s plan to sell a 61.5% stake to Singapore Technologies Telemedia for $250 million.

* Merck & Co. said it had started the first global human tests of an experimental AIDS vaccine, working with the Seattle-based HIV Vaccine Trials Network and 435 adult volunteers.