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Politics : Clinton -- doomed & wagging, Japan collapses, Y2K bug, etc -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: SOROS who wrote (19)	8/31/1998 3:18:00 PM
From: SOROS	Respond to of 1151

Japan Firms Not Ready for 2000 Bug 08/27/98 TOKYO (AP) -- Most listed companies in Japan are still unprepared to prevent their computers from failing when the millennium arrives, the Tokyo Stock Exchange said Thursday. Of the 1,549 companies that replied to a survey conducted by the TSE, 1,258, or 81 percent, say they are still trying to reprogram their computer systems to protect themselves from the glitch, known as the Year 2000, or Y2K, problem. Experts fear that computer systems around the world will be paralyzed in the first days of the Year 2000. Many have been programmed to recognize years by their last two digits, and are likely to mistake 2000 for 1900. Only 145, or 9 percent, replied that they have successfully completed preparations to ensure smooth computer operations into the new millennium, said a TSE spokesman, who requested anonymity. In the TSE survey, 16 listed companies replied they have not begun addressing the Year 2000 problem at all, and 48 companies say they are still investigating whether they need to do so, the spokesman said. A total of 79 companies have decided that it is unnecessary for them to prepare for millennium bug problems, he said. All 97 of the banks that answered the survey say they haven't completed work to fix the glitch. Five listed banks declined to respond. The 1,258 companies that are still trying to ensure their computer systems won't be affected by the bug said they are confident preparations will be completed by December 1999. Because of Japan's vital role in world financial markets, many experts fear that a failure of the country's banking sector to fix the problem in time could have serious repercussions in the global economy. A total of 1,820 of the 1,869 companies listed on the Exchange were questioned in the survey. 271 declined to reply.