Also. . .

* The European Union’s executive body is expected today to approve an ambitious free trade agreement between the 15-nation bloc and Mexico. The European Commission, meeting in Strasbourg, France, is expected to pass the agreement hammered out last November after a year of negotiations between the EU and Mexico. The pact will then go to EU member governments for their approval. The agreement would phase out most tariffs on both sides over a period of years. It offers European companies the hope of making up some of the ground lost in the Mexican market to U.S. and Canadian competitors since the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement.