NATION IN BRIEF : WASHINGTON, D.C. : Talks to Work Out Clean Air Bill Start

House and Senate conferees opened talks on a compromise clean air bill, while a White House aide said that the Administration is “fundamentally opposed” to giving financial aid to workers who lose jobs because of tougher pollution requirements. The negotiations represent the first move to strengthen federal air pollution laws in 13 years, and they are expected to last weeks. The House and Senate bills passed last spring call for tougher pollution controls on factories, automobiles and electric power plants to reduce urban smog, toxic industrial releases and acid rain by the end of the decade.