Here is a summary of news from The Associated Press. Stories carried ``i'' or ``f'' category codes. Some of the items below have moved on this circuit in expanded form: LONDON AP In an ambulance escorted by armed police former Chilean dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet left a hospital Tuesday and moved into a luxurious home to continue fighting an effort to extradite him on charges of genocide and torture. Demonstrators shouted and shook their fists as Pinochet swept through the gates of Grovelands Priory a day after the psychiatric hospital announced that he is fit and demanded that he leave. The hospital's order undermined any attempt by the 83-year-old general to plead that he is too ill or frail to stand trial in Spain in the deaths and torture of political opponents during his 1973-90 rule in Chile. BRITAIN-PINOCHET WASHINGTON AP In what could be a warmup for statehood U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat have launched a new U.S.-Palestinian commission designed at the outset to channel dlrs 900 million in new American aid to the West Bank and Gaza. The landmark one-hour meeting was held in Albright's office near the end of Arafat's high-profile visit to Washington in which he again asserted hopes for a state and called east Jerusalem ``occupied territory.'' The commission is unique in that other U.S. commissions are with prominent nations. Among them: Russia Mexico South Africa Egypt and Ukraine. James P. Rubin the State Department spokesman said the new commission with the Palestinians did not establish a state-to-state relationship. US-ARAFAT. BEIJING AP The detention of two of China's most influential dissidents and three other pro-democracy activists underscores the government's stated determination to crush any challenge to one-party Communist rule. Legislative chairman Li Peng the Communist Party's No. 2 man was quoted as saying Tuesday that Western-style democracy was inappropriate for China and that opposition groups would not be tolerated. Police in two cities went to the homes of Xu Wenli Qin Yongmin and other members of the fledgling China Democracy Party on Monday night and took them away relatives and a human rights group said Tuesday. The police action was one of the most severe since dissidents announced their attempt to form an opposition group in June to challenge the Communist Party's monopoly on power. CHINA-DISSIDENTS HAVANA AP Christmas is back on Cuba's official calendar after nearly three decades in which political and economic concerns made Dec. 25 just another day. Cubans said they look forward to the chance to play pray or just relax on the upcoming holiday. The Communist Party used the entire front page of Cuba's only daily newspaper Granma to recommend Tuesday that ``from this year on'' Dec. 25 be a permanent holiday in Cuba. Adoption by the Communist government is assured. Cuba's Roman Catholic Church issued a statement declaring that it ``highly values this gesture'' and expressing confidence that ``the path of opening of Cuba'' would lead to ``causes for joy unity and hope for the Cuban people.'' The government granted a Christmas holiday last year as a one-time favor to Pope John Paul II who visited in January but it had balked at declaring the measure permanent. CUBA-CHRISTMAS JOHANNESBURG South Africa AP Activists across the globe marched in the streets distributed condoms and held benefit concerts Tuesday to try to halt the spread of AIDS which will kill millions of people this year alone. Underscoring events on World AIDS Day was this sobering fact: Although powerful new medicines are helping industrialized countries win the battle against the disease it has reached epidemic proportions in continents where people can't afford the drugs. About 33.4 million people around the world are infected with HIV two-thirds of them in sub-Saharan Africa. In Asia and the Pacific 700000 people become infected with HIV per year. ``In the case of HIV/AIDS the difference in wealth becomes literally matter of life and death'' decried Mary Robinson the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. WORLD AIDS DAY APW19981201.0486.txt.body.html APW19981201.0835.txt.body.html