Washington - Irwin "Sonny" Bloch is among America's most popular and durable financial talk radio hosts. It now transpires, if a slew of charges from federal prosecutors is upheld, that he may be one of the most dishonest, writes Rupert Cornwell. He is accused of using his nationally syndicated programme to defraud listeners out of more than $20m (pounds 12.5m).

BOXING

THE ARMY commander in Haiti, General Raoul Cedras, is expected to step down today as the military regime is dissolved. He will probably go into exile in Spain. His chief of staff, General Philippe Biamby, is also expected to leave office today and is likely to live in the Dominican Republic.

UNITED STATES forces poised to invade Haiti will have the delicate task of doing so without upsetting the uneasy political balance in its neighbour, the Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola and has opposed an invasion.

AMERICANS can't go there, let alone trade there, and there is nothing to invest in even if they could. But that hasn't stopped US investors, in their quest for the ultimate emerging market, from rushing to buy a handful of new mutual funds established specifically for that purpose.

THE EYES of the world are on Haiti, which faces the threat of a US-led military intervention, but President Bill Clinton's contingency planning may be complicated by unrest in Haiti's neighbour, the Dominican Republic.

(First Edition)

NEW YORK - Michael Jackson's spokesman denied his client had married Elvis Presley's daughter, Lisa Marie, despite such claims by a judge in the Dominican Republic. But a leading handwriting expert said he was '75 per cent certain' that the marriage certificate produced by the judge was signed by Jackson. Reuter

MADRID - A Spanish court sentenced four men to jail terms totalling 126 years over the murder of a woman from the Dominican Republic, which sparked a nationwide debate about racism. The court ruled that former civil guard Luis Merino, along with Felipe Carlos Martin, Julian Flores and Javier Quilez, had entered a building where 30 Dominican immigrants lived with 'the premeditated idea of assault to cause bodily harm'. Reuter

'WHERE is the Dominican Republic?' the travel agent asked, leafing distractedly through yet another brochure. At first I took this for ignorance, a plea for help, but her expression betrayed a darker purpose. She was trying to catch me out. 'Central America,' I said, with an inflection that made it sound a bit like a question but not quite. I'd confirmed the booking and was signing a cheque, so of course I knew where I was going. 'Wrong,' she said triumphantly. 'Let's look at the map.'

BILL CLINTON said yesterday he was tightening sanctions on Haiti, including an end to all commercial flights to the island, in an effort to force out the military regime which seized power three years ago.

STEVE ROBINSON risks a lucrative meeting with Duke McKenzie by taking on the elusive substitute Freddy Cruz in the fourth defence of his World Boxing Organisation featherweight title at the Cardiff Ice Rink tomorrow.

The main opposition candidate in the Dominican Republic's allegedly fraud-marred presidential vote pledged yesterday to take his fight to the UN and the Organisation of American States, AFP reports from Santo Domingo. No winner has been announced in the 16 May vote, which Jose Francisco Pena Gomez says was rigged to keep him from defeating the incumbent, Joaquin Balaguer.

Sir: Your article 'Desperate Haitians vote with their fleet', 23 May) is correct in highlighting the new wave of Haitians building boats to flee their country. Their reversion to such a course has less to do with President Clinton's modified immigration policy and more to do with months of terror and deprivation.