BRIEFLY : COMPUTER THEFTS DELAY SOME CLASSES AT UCLA.

The theft of more than $70,000 worth of computers at UCLA has caused some classes to be postponed, officials said.

The Oct. 17 burglary of an office building at the Graduate School of Education and Information Science left the department short 32 computers, campus police said Tuesday.

The perpetrators apparently rifled through desks to find master keys to a dozen rooms and then loaded a white Ford van with the equipment, police said.

?13Associated Press 

Former Simpson estate may spark bidding war

Real estate agents showing O.J. Simpson's former Rockingham Avenue estate to prospective buyers for the first time Wednesday expect a bidding war.

Would-be buyers had to ``qualify'' to see the home - listed at $3.95 million - by presenting a bank letter showing they are able to make a $4 million purchase.

?13- City News Service

Suits claim hidden fees by money-wiring firms

Western Union and MoneyGram are accused in two lawsuits of charging hidden fees for wiring money outside the United States.

The lawsuits filed Monday in U.S. District Court accuse the nation's two largest money-wiring companies of false advertising and failing to tell customers about currency exchange fees between the United States and Mexico. The suits seek unspecified damages and an order stopping the allegedly hidden charges.

Attorney Fred J. Kumetz, who filed the lawsuits, said he will ask the court to expand the case to class-action status, which would cover all international money wires.

MoneyGram spokesman Warren Bechtel said the Saddle Brook, N.J.-based company has been charging the currency exchange fee for several years. The fee varies for each country, depending on the strength of that country's currency, he said.

MoneyGram forms indicate the amount being sent and how much the recipient will receive, so no costs were hidden, Bechtel said.

A spokesman for Denver-based Western Union Financial Services Inc. declined to comment, saying the company hadn't seen the lawsuit.

?13- Associated Press

Stricken judge's flight home privately funded

Anonymous donors are paying for the flight home from Zurich, Switzerland, of a prominent California judge who found herself at the center of an insurance wrangle after collapsing during a business trip to eastern Europe, friends said Wednesday.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Judith Chirlin, 49, was unable to return home to the United States because of a dispute with her insurers over who would pay the $15,000 cost of the flight and medical care.

Chirlin is recovering in a hospital in Zurich, where she was flown Oct. 11 after suffering severe heart problems in the Bulgarian capital Sofia in early October.

?13- Associated Press