BRIEFCASE GROCERY STRIKE TALKS TO CONTINUE.

Byline: - Staff and Wire Services

Federally mediated negotiations to settle the grocery strike continued through Friday, but little is known about the meetings due to a media blackout declared by the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service.

Officials with the agency said talks are expected to continue today.

``The fact that they're talking is positive from our perspective,'' said FMCS Spokesman John Arnold.

Meanwhile, the United Food and Commercial Workers union clarified the number of people on the picket lines. Since the strike began Oct. 11, labor leaders have referred to 70,000 workers either striking or locked out, but the true number is closer to 59,000, said spokeswoman Barbara Maynard.

There will be 70,000 grocery workers affected by the strike, including employees of stores that are not actively involved in the labor dispute, Maynard said.

Feds investigate Titan payments

SAN DIEGO - Federal regulators are investigating whether information- technology firm Titan Corp. made illegal payments to overseas consultants, the company said Friday.

The probe may affect the security and defense information technology concern's proposed sale to defense giant Lockheed Martin.

Titan said in a statement that it knows of no unlawful payments and will cooperate with the Securities and Exchange Commission investigation.

Representatives of the company met recently with the SEC and the U.S. Justice Department about Titan's own internal review of payments to international consultants, the company said.

Skilling may face new Enron counts

HOUSTON - Federal prosecutors are preparing criminal charges against former Enron Corp. chief executive Jeffrey Skilling for an indictment expected to be handed up this month, perhaps as early as next week, sources close to the case told The Associated Press on Friday.

The two sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed that the government focused on Skilling after securing a guilty plea to two counts of conspiracy from former Enron finance chief Andrew Fastow last month. But they said the process was delicate and public revelation of the new case could be delayed.

The Houston Chronicle first reported in its online edition early Friday that prosecutors were finalizing possible charges against Skilling.

Tech firm eyed in Microsoft breach

WASHINGTON - The investigation into the illegal disclosure of blueprints for some versions of Microsoft Corp.'s Windows software has turned to a small technology company in Silicon Valley that works closely with Microsoft.

Self-appointed sleuths eager to solve one of the technology industry's most intriguing mysteries found references inside files accompanying the leaked Windows blueprints indicating that Mainsoft Corp. had been working with the computer code before it began circulating on the Internet.

Microsoft has provided Mainsoft access to parts of its Windows blueprints since at least 1994 under conditions that generally prohibited it from disclosing them to others. Mainsoft helps businesses convert their customized Windows programs to run on rival operating systems, such as Unix.

Mainsoft chairman Mike Gullard pledged to cooperate fully with Microsoft and U.S. authorities investigating the breach.