BUSINESS NOTES.

T-BILL RATES DECLINE: Interest rates on short-term Treasury securities fell in Monday's auction.

The Treasury Department sold $11 billion in three-month bills at an average discount rate of 4.90 percent, down from 4.91 percent last week.

An additional $10.5 billion was sold in six-month bills at an average rate of 5.04 percent, down from 5.08 percent.

?13- Associated Press 

NIKE SHEDS INDONESIAN PLANTS: Nike announced it is cutting ties with four Indonesian companies Monday, saying they refused to comply with its standards for wage levels and working conditions.

The announcement at its annual shareholders meeting came amid ongoing claims that the Oregon-based athletic shoe and sports apparel giant keeps many of the 500,000 workers who assemble Nike products in Asia in sweatshop conditions.

In an earlier news conference, San Francisco-based Global Exchange repeated accusations that Nike contractors operate factories similar to prison camps, paying below the minimum wage, hiring workers as young as 13 and violating its own code of conduct.

?13- Associated Press

RUBIN BULLISH ON ASIA: Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin expressed confidence in the long-term prospects for Southeast Asia's ailing economies even as their financial markets took another tumble.

Rubin, speaking Monday to reporters at the world's biggest annual money summit, said the region appears to have learned from its recent financial woes and is taking the tough steps needed to avoid further problems.

Officials recognize that sound economic policies are ``what's going to work in the long run'' to ensure sustainable, noninflationary growth, he said.

?13- Associated Press